Astronomers scramble as ‘alien mega-structure’ star dims again

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Geronimo said:
Cloudy days. Then not so cloudy days.

That's it really
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Do stars have clouds mate? You might get away with solar maximums and minimums, but not sure that reason could be used for the dimming as its miles away.

Randy Ostrich said:
Good to see you're keeping up with the kardashevs
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:lol:
I had forgotten the term when googling it, so I put in karsdashian scale. :oops:

Scotty said:
there are other forms of Dyson Sphere apart from the one made famous in Star Trek

it could be a Dyson Ring (well multiples), the start of a Dyson Swarm, or a Dyson Bubble

whatever it is it certainly has the boffins baffled
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Cheap arse aliens. ;)
 
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ProfessionalMackem said:
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The most famously weird star in our galaxy is acting up again. On Friday, 19 May, Tabby’s star began to dim, carrying on a history of mysterious dips in brightness. Astronomers are scrambling to point as many telescopes as possible at the star, which is 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, to decipher its strange signal.

In 2015, a team of astronomers led by Yale’s Tabetha Boyajian saw the light from the star KIC 8462852 suddenly and repeatedly dip in brightness. The star dimmed by up to 22 per cent before it returned to normal.

Then, in 2016, a review of old photographic plates revealed that KIC 8462852 dimmed by 14 per cent between 1890 and 1989. The star, nicknamed Tabby’s star after Boyajian, faded by another 3 per cent over the four years it was observed by the Kepler space observatory.

Astronomers have come up with a huge variety of different potential explanations for the star’s strange behaviour. Some say it could be because of its interior dynamics, some say it could be surrounded by a swarm of asteroids and debris. Or maybe it’s dimming because it devoured a planet at some time in the past. Most famously, some astronomers have said that the dimming could be caused by an orbiting alien megastructure.

Because Tabby’s star has cultivated such an air of mystery, the response to its new dimming has been quick and enthusiastic, with some telescope observations of the star already planned over the next few days. If we’re lucky, new observations may just help us figure out what’s making KIC 8462852 dim (it’s probably not aliens).

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Is Tabetha good looking?
 
Lexingtongue said:
If it was a Dyson Sphere would it not disappear altogether if it was entirely encompassed?
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The technical problem with a Dyson Sphere being solid is that it would tend to collapse in on itself - a better solution would be a 'cloud' of satellites around the star harvesting energy, closer to a Dyson swarm type setup, or maybe a Niven Ring structure which could occlude a star occasionally.

Edit: I see I was SEB'd
 
ProfessionalMackem said:
Could be right mate.

You heard of this?

The Kardashev scale is a method of measuring a civilization's level of technological advancement, based on the amount of energy a civilization is able to use for communication.[1] The scale has three designated categories:

  • A Type I civilization—also called planetary civilization—can use and store all of the energy which reaches its planet from its parent star.
  • A Type II civilization can harness the total energy of its planet's parent star (the most popular hypothetical concept being the Dyson sphere—a device which would encompass the entire star and transfer its energy to the planet(s)).
  • A Type III civilization can control energy on the scale of its entire host galaxy.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale


We dont even make the scale :oops::oops:
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That's fuck all that mate, once saw the Daleks nick a load of planets on Doctor Who to harness the energy in order to destroy *all* of reality.
 
peil said:
The technical problem with a Dyson Sphere being solid is that it would tend to collapse in on itself - a better solution would be a 'cloud' of satellites around the star harvesting energy, closer to a Dyson swarm type setup, or maybe a Niven Ring structure which could occlude a star occasionally.

Edit: I see I was SEB'd
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Nah I'm not having that mate. If a civilization had the tech to encompass a whole star. I'm sure they'll have a material they could use that wouldn't collapse on itself.

Thurston said:
That's fuck all that mate, once saw the Daleks nick a load of planets on Doctor Who to harness the energy in order to destroy *all* of reality.
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:lol:

Darleks a Type IV civilization then?

sadders said:
There is a good episode of Horizon currently on iPlayer on this and similar subjects.
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Whats its called mate or linky poo's?
 
ProfessionalMackem said:
Nah I'm not having that mate. If a civilization had the tech to encompass a whole star. I'm sure they'll have a material they could use that wouldn't collapse on itself.



:lol:

Darleks a Type IV civilization then?



Whats its called mate or linky poo's?
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Don't think you can link to iPlayer.

It's Horizon (a very well known and respected BBC series of science based documentaries). The episode is called weird signals from outer space.

You wouldn't like it marra as it is based on science rather than conspiracies ;)
 
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