Kepler: Could an alien race have disabled it?

So... I know this site is a place to discuss a broad spectrum of topics so I decided to add something that I don't necessarily believe but still somethng that can be interesting to think about.

What if Kepler was on the verge of discovering a planet that is inhabited by a space faring race and they didn't take kindly to our voyeuristic ways so "they" disabled Kepler just before it spotted their world?

Now for my personal belief, I think the Universe is teaming with life. If there is a crag or cranny for life to take root it will literally explode. I use Earth as a prime example of how life can and will diversify on a planet even with areas not condusive to life "as we know it". But I also believe that to rise to a sentient being that would actually care about space and beyond would be a different story. We have intelligent life right here on Earth but you don't see great apes building airplanes or dolphins sending probes to see just how life interacts with "dry land". Intelligent space faring life IMHO is very rare indeed.

But what if we have a neighbor who has been observing us and they know full well what we do to our own "kind" and they'd be damned if they'd let us discover them? What if Kepler was about to turn its high powered eye on their star system and they didn't want that to happen? There is evidence of "them" doing things from disabling the US's nuclear deterrent to disabling rockets in flight. Going on these incidents would it be too much a stretch to think "they" disabled Kepler to blind humanity?

I know I will probably be told to not encourage silliness... but I just can't help myself.

reply to post by Terminal1


Unlikely.

We are not really "seeing" the planets.

To the best of my knowledge, and I may be wrong. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am.

We are seeing a dimming of the light of the stars caused by the planets passing in front of them. Based on the type and brightness of the stars, we can determine sizes and distance and general chemical makeup of the planets atmosphere.

I also think it is unlikely anyone would know if the satellite was pointed at them. Just speculation, but it seems doubtfully.

reply to post by watchitburn


I think that is the way it goes... diminishing light. Now how they go about determining chemical compositions of planets that diminish the light or through tugging the star around I really don't know. I do have a problem of the diminishing light aspect being that the planets that orbit a star would have to be "edge on" to us before they can be discovered in that way. I also understand that we can tell that a gravitational body like a planet can "tug" at a star making it wobble a bit.

It is just a thought I am having fun with and am just putting the question, What If, out there on ATS just to mine the thoughts of people here. Do I believe it personally? No I don't but it is nice to brainstorm a bit and think "What If..."

I wrote a short story back in high school about an alien in the Space Freighters Guild who was awoken from his suspended animation by a proximity alarm when his craft got to close to the Voyagers which for story purposes was similiar to a weapon used against his race in a devastating war. After he realized it wasn't a weapon he decided to break his monotony, trace the origin and pull a prank on humans.

I guess that idea is still rampaging around in my head after decades.

Just a fun thought to explore...

reply to post by Terminal1


Its a pretty simple principle how its done.

Every molecule absorbs certain radiation frequencys. It like a fingerprint. You can then use this to roughly determine whats in a compound by seeing what frequencys are absorbed.

So some of the light and other EM radiation passing through a planets atmosphere will be be absorbed and you can very roughly make out what chemicals are in that atmosphere from what frequencys are missing in the ligh that kepler picks up.

reply to post by Terminal1


The best news on the main thread about the demise of Kepler is that Kepler 2 is set for launch in 2017. Maybe this failure will push that date up a year or so. And if aliens disabled Kepler, which is the most likely explanation (smiley face here), they will probably be back in '017 to finish the job.

reply to post by crazyewok


But if we cannot see the light reflected off the planet itself how can this be determined? I mean, I understand concepts like spectral analysis but unless you can actually see the thing you are analyzing, how do you determine it?

I mean, light dipping can be understood and is hard enough. Can we really analyze the spectrum of something passing in front of a star when the light dipping is so small?

What happens if there is gas and debris between the star system and us that would absorb some of the waves skewing the result?

Are we getting that good with sensitivity? No wonder aliens would be worried (lol)!

reply to post by Aleister


Maybe we oughta put drones around Kepler 2 ..

I could add... why would they "come back" when they are already here (insert el oh el)

Originally posted by Terminal1
reply to post by crazyewok

 

But if we cannot see the light reflected off the planet itself how can this be determined? I mean, I understand concepts like spectral analysis but unless you can actually see the thing you are analyzing, how do you determine it?

I mean, light dipping can be understood and is hard enough. Can we really analyze the spectrum of something passing in front of a star when the light dipping is so small?

Basicly yes. We cant see it with the naked eye but very very sensitive equipment can. You only need a little bit of EM radiation. And that the thing im guessing its not just light its also Infered, UV and maybe Gamma and Radio waves.

Originally posted by Terminal1

What happens if there is gas and debris between the star system and us that would absorb some of the waves skewing the result?

Well thats the problem. I think they get allot of interferance, I am guessing its calibrated againt diffrent deep space back drops and then they just subtract that from the planet readings but that would not be full proof.

Originally posted by Terminal1
Are we getting that good with sensitivity? No wonder aliens would be worried (lol)!

Basicaly yes. Some of the spectrometers I have used are very very sensitive but they are also very very expensive To be honnest it all about how big your wallet is.

I gihly doubt that an alien race disabled Kepler.

I suspect it was just mechanical malfunction.

Originally posted by babybunnies
I gihly doubt that an alien race disabled Kepler.

I suspect it was just mechanical malfunction.

Or maybe they were helpful aliens, and were trying to improve Kepler. Then they had a mechanical malfunction, looked at each other, and snuck away.

Fantastic trolling topic!!! Love the way you seized on the Kepler malfunction to create this your good!

reply to post by ATSZOMBIE


Well over my morning coffee it was either this or that DHS uses the USPS to create a huge data base for DNA samples (complete with attached address) of people who still lick their stamps.

It was a hard choice so I did it the American way. I flipped a quarter.

/tongue firmly in cheek

Aliens won...

yup,had to be aliens!! No doubt in my mind,even though NASA said they have had problems with this part before,and its the second one to fail on Keppler.They overcame the first one ,so the aliens came back to finish the job.Great find,good work! Now,when the tire on your car goes flat,you can blame an alien!

reply to post by Terminal1

What if Kepler was on the verge of discovering a planet that is inhabited by a space faring race and they didn't take kindly to our voyeuristic ways so "they" disabled Kepler just before it spotted their world?

To make such an assumption would also assume that our species possesses some degree of technology capable of making us a threat to their world. In other words, we have the means, today, to travel across interstellar space and bring our inbred warring behaviors as well as our instinctive failures of moral compass, to said world and once there, be powerful enough to be a genuine danger.

Now, I've heard all the stuff that we have all this technological ability that is hidden from the public and to that end, I have no doubt we do have a lot more than the average person is allowed. But to be capable of assembling an interstellar battle fleet that would be able to cause another advanced world to worry?

My guess is that the Keplar failure represent a failure of our technological hardware as well as our nation's crippled inability to get up there and do anything about it without begging the Russians for a ride.

More of a shame on us and this nation's space program at the moment than a danger to others.

Originally posted by Terminal1
So... I know this site is a place to discuss a broad spectrum of topics so I decided to add something that I don't necessarily believe but still somethng that can be interesting to think about.

What if Kepler was on the verge of discovering a planet that is inhabited by a space faring race and they didn't take kindly to our voyeuristic ways so "they" disabled Kepler just before it spotted their world?

I know I will probably be told to not encourage silliness... but I just can't help myself.

Silliness?
I think its a great theory.
For all we know they may have wormhole telescopes which view us through technology no one on Earth has yet even dreamed of...monitoring all our space based scopes etc.
Maybe they have the ability to teleport matter,and if so to knock out the Kepler would be easy for them.

Or they could be nearby already,in a cloaked ship,hiding behind the moon.

Now,lets say that some alien race does have such tech,and we were about to point Kepler at it.
Would they wish to stop that happening?

If they were that high tech to be able to monitor us,they would probably have watched the last almost 100 years of war and attempted genocide on TV news and deduced that Humans,even with our creative side,would be about as useful to their world as a trillion rabid mastiffs on PCP let loose on every continent.

So yes,I believe they would certainly wish to stop us locating them-its a no brainer,and I like you theory.

who is watching who here the black knight satellite is one that springs to mind and other times things have been noticed following earth probes from behind the sun and near phobos ??

reply to post by Terminal1

Well if you're right then it's only a temporary measure. They cannot prevent humanity from discovering them. We're on the verge of discovering tens of thousands of exo-planets. It's inevitable. Unstoppable.

Like you, I tend to assume that life is going to be almost everywhere. They may find it event in the interstellar gas clouds and in the atmospheres of gas giants. But what if we're wrong? What if life is rare? If life is rare then we might have the whole galaxy to ourselves. Not such a bad outcome.

One more thing. Maybe dolphins and ants aren't taking over the planet because humans already have. People forget how much of an impact we have every day. We're the dominant earth life-form. The rest of the primates didn't dominate because we were the winners. If we had lost, they'd be dominant.

See, this planet isn't big enough for multiple developing intelligent species.]

Very possible the aliens have been known to disable things in the past namely nuclear bombs

reply to post by Silcone Synapse


More like a trillion rabid badgers.

Maybe not, but I like saying badgers. It's a fun word.

reply to post by redoubt


Well... we have rap music and that old timey Rock N Roll... look what it has done to our race?

Plus we have the ultimate weapon! Pat Robertson!!

A few broadcasts directly to "them" using the Green Bank Radio Telescope and their heads would explode into green muck like Indian Love Call did to Martians in Mars Attacks! Set up shop like we did to Manuel Noriega... yea... that'd do the trick

Pfft... and we wouldn't even have to call on the Ruskies..

We have weapons alright... not all weapons explode. Ask TBTF banks... they know... yes! They know...