Detected strange new activity on "alien megastructure" star
If you read the title and do not understand very well what is this talk of "alien megastructure", we explain what it is. In 2015, while scouring the cosmos for exoplanets, NASA's Kepler space telescope recorded strange activity around a star called KIC 8462852 about 1, 500 light years away from Earth in the constellation Cygnus - and the whole thing has to talk about.
Bizarre activity
More precisely, the telescope detected a significant reduction in light emission from the star by 15% to 22% at irregular intervals. It turns out that, according to astronomers, during planet transits - when a world passes in front of its sun - it is normal for the brightness to decrease by only 1% and this occurs at regular times.
Of course, the data collected by Kepler confused scientists, and various scenarios have been proposed to explain the bizarre activity on the star. Among the theories were that light variation could be caused by a cluster of comets in the vicinity of the star, by the presence of a circumstantial disk or as a result of a planetary collision.
However, as no one could explain what was happening on the basis of natural phenomena, astronomers considered it well to include the possibility that the reduction in brightness was caused by the presence of an alien megastructure, harnessing the energy emitted by the star.
Over the next few months, several astronomer teams, including SETI personnel, pointed telescopes at KIC 8462852 in the hope of detecting something, but no sign of life was found. With that, the mystery of what could be causing the variations in brightness remained unresolved, and things ended up reassuring the stars nearby ... until now.
New activity
Last Friday (19), Louisiana State University astrophysicist Tabetha Boyajian issued a Twitter alert that the star's luminosity had fallen again - by about 3% over a couple of days, which It is already quite significant. Since then, word has spread among scientists, and by all accounts everyone is watching what is happening with KIC 8462852.
As you know, there are a limited number of telescopes here on Earth, and different teams of astronomers need to "schedule" very tight periods of time to use this equipment and conduct their studies. For all these people have decided to collaborate, and all the telescopes and observatories that can "see" the star at the moment are pointed there - collecting data and reading the bizarre activity.
It is noteworthy that, although the star became famous because of the theory related to the alien megastructure, astronomers explained that, although this hypothesis cannot be ruled out, the possibility that an advanced civilization is behind the strange activity is - well. - unlikely. On the other hand, with so many people collaborating, so many telescopes monitoring the action, and so much data being obtained from the phenomenon, scientists may come closer to solving the mystery.
We here at Mega Curioso will keep an eye on the news and tell you everything as soon as astronomers start releasing new information, but until then, how about sharing your guess with us? Do you have any theory as to what may be causing the bizarre variation of light in the star? What do you think about the theory of alien megastructure? And if it were confirmed, how do you think we should proceed? And how would humanity react?
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