Scientists Suggest Aliens Are Harnessing Energy From This Star

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Scientists Suggest Aliens Are Harnessing Energy From This Star
By Michael McDonald - Aug 12, 2016, 5:02 PM CDT

Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction as the old adage goes. Scientists at Penn State studying a distant star called KIC 8462852 have released a new study postulating that based on the light it is emitting, an alien race may have constructed a massive device to that harnesses the power of the star. The theory is that the aliens have constructed a shell or semi-shell (a swarm in the jargon of the study) around the star and are siphoning off its power slowly over time. If this sounds like something out of an episode of Star Trek, then you are not far off.

The device being described is called a Dyson Sphere or a Dyson Swarm depending on the particulars of the construction. It’s named after physicist Freeman Dyson who described the concept in a 1960 study.

Not only is reality sometimes stranger than fiction it is just as unbelievable. I find this story utterly ridiculous. How can anyone in their right mind accept this out-of-this-world concept? An idea was proposed in 1960 and now, 56 years later, the "aliens" are using that idea! That's similar to "Bequette's Error":
www.debunker.com...
"The Saucer Error" By Martin Kottmeyer

Oddly enough, we got flying saucers because of a journalist's error. ... Kenneth Arnold hadn't reported seeing flying saucers. In a memoir of the incident for the First International UFO Congress in 1977 Arnold revealed the flying saucer label arose because of a "great deal of misunderstanding" on the part of the reporter who wrote the story up for the United Press. Bill Bequette asked him how the objects flew and Arnold answered that, "Well, they flew erratic, like a saucer if you skip it across the water." The intent of the metaphor was to describe the motion of the objects not their shape. Arnold stated the objects "were not circular." A look at the drawing he did for his report to the Air Force shortly after the incident confirms the truth of that statement.

Not only did Bequette commit a sort of major "faux pas", he didn't make sense with his comparison. You don't skip saucers across the water, you skip stones! So, in reality, flying saucers should have been called "flying stones"! Now, we have scientists talking out of their heads about a subject that they have no evidence for and they're guessing what "aliens" are involved in. NOTHING to support their comments, unlike real scientists that work with real evidence so that they can reach a factual conclusion. I hate reading that kind of non-scientific crap. It's okay to theorize 'cause the theories could result in solid data. The Drake Equation is one of those worthless theories. You start with 1, us, and wind up with more than when the only evidence is for 1.

How do you feel about this story and my negative opinion which in the long run doesn't amount to a hill of beans?

When you read the theories as to why the scientists think it's evidence of a Dyson swarm it's quite an educated and plausible theory. But until more evidence comes to light I guess we can sit around poking a stick at the refrigerator and calling it witchcraft

"Scientists" seems to be a buzzword today.

I'd like to see these "scientists" credentials when they make such blatantly unscientific presumptions.

a reply to: ghostrager

Don't ask for proof, credentials, peer reviewed papers, or any shred of quantifiable evidence.

Pseudoscience and conspiracy theory for its own sake are the order of the day.

But just in case, I will echo your call.

Probably the effect they are seeing has a natural and reasonable explanation. But since there is obviously life out there, I'd imagine that sure, they would harness the power of a sun. I'd imagine we would do the same, if we could. So a bit farfetched to call it science fiction, too. It's cool none-the-less.

So, this event with Kepler whatever number happened roughly 14,000 years ago, give or take. At 14001 years, they finally harnessed all the energy they needed. At 14001 years plus one second this Kepler star whatever number flowered up to the size of the sun, all life was incinerated on earth. Heckling, the aliens played frisbee with the gold disc stamped with the directions to a species and planet that no longer existed..

could be happening in nearer star systems too!

Everything we know has been ruled out. The last thing on on the list is an alien megastructure. It could be some sort of highly err regular solar system....or it could be an alien megastructure.

The fact is it very well COULD be an alien megastructure whether you want to accept that fact or not.

originally posted by: klassless
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Scientists Suggest Aliens Are Harnessing Energy From This Star
By Michael McDonald - Aug 12, 2016, 5:02 PM CDT

Now, we have scientists talking out of their heads about a subject that they have no evidence for and they're guessing what "aliens" are involved in. NOTHING to support their comments, unlike real scientists that work with real evidence so that they can reach a factual conclusion. I hate reading that kind of non-scientific crap. It's okay to theorize 'cause the theories could result in solid data. The Drake Equation is one of those worthless theories. You start with 1, us, and wind up with more than when the only evidence is for 1.

How do you feel about this story and my negative opinion which in the long run doesn't amount to a hill of beans?

I think the bigger issue here is getting your astronomy news from an energy/oil news site. Your source overly exaggerates and sensationalizes what is nothing more than wild speculation and calls it a theory. The criteria in science for how a scientific theory is defined is far beyond the scope of the speculation presented in your article. The Astronomers actually studying this have presented several plausible hypotheses for what could be causing the dimming phenomena with KIC 8462852 and the Dyson Sphere angle is, in their own words, highly speculative. The actual quote from Astronomer Josh Simon from LSU Baton Rouge was

Once you're invoking arbitrary advanced aliens doing something with technology far beyond ours then there isn't very much that can't be explained. We don't really want to resort to that until we exhaust all of the natural explanations we can think of.

Even Jason Wright, the Penn State Astronomer who first postulated the Alien Megastructure also says that explanation is a "Last resort".

The prevailing hypotheses range from a swarm of comets to an intervening cloud in the interstellar medium. Dyson Spheres and Alien Megastructures, while interesting and headline grabbing speculation, are actually at the bottom of the list of things being considered. It's not much more than a click bait headline. Just an example of why we should always check multiple sources when reporting on something. Especially if the citation being presented is being reported by a completely unrelated field.

www.newscientist.com...

www.nasa.gov...

www.popsci.com/alien-megastructure-star-only-gets-more-mysterious

www.popularmechanics.com...

a reply to: peter vlar

What you say about the article is appreciated. But the point is that the article, ridiculous or not, is out there impressing some readers. These readers may not have your knowledge of how things should be and the contents will create thoughts that may be at variance with what it should be. They may not read opposing POVs as we enjoy here on this forum. So don't kill the messenger, oil website, at least the info opens minds.

*Sigh....*

If it isn't plausible to a humans' puny mind, it is automatically crazy.

There is a reason Universities and Governments construct giant telescopes. Until you have the schooling to understand the information you have read, and the tools to observe it for yourself, you don't have the logical abillity to rule it out.

This star is acting in a way not yet observed in centuries of astronomy. It is giving off energy in an increased rate, in sporadic increments of time. Normally when a system or body has visible dimming, it is something that is in between the observer and the observed. As such, in time it returns to how it was previously observed. Also, when something gives of energy, it is at a measured rate, or at least exponentially decaying. This system has irregular, non-rythmic dimming, ruling out other observed and known universal events. Logically, the star is losing its energy to something man has no way of understanding, it could just as easily be aliens or a yet unkown cosmic event.

Caught with the hand in the cookie jar!!

a reply to: klassless

Sure, but the author of that article is who is responsible for the content, not the scientists you castigated as not "real" scientists in your OP. That was all I was trying to get at. And you gave me the impression your opinion on the science behind the hypothesis was based solely on the article you cited. It's not poor science, it's shoddy journalism.

LOL- Because some people got together and brainstormed on potential explanations for that effects we are observing, does not mean any of those ideas are being put forward as scientific fact. Nowhere does that article say that. So what are you going on about?

Scientists too, know the importance of using imagination to help one look beyond the horizon of what is known already.
You must be able to stretch your mind that way, otherwise you cannot make progress.

They were exploring one hypothesis, that's all. I remember a project not long ago in which scientists tried to propose potential forms extraterrestrials might have. It was fueled by the concept that we humans have trouble imagining living forms and systems other than our own type- we think we can say a planet is habitable or not, but that is only according to life forms as we are familiar with.

When we found organisms living in the bottom of the ocean, in areas we thought it impossible, we realized we need to stretch our imagination! That project was an exercise in stretching, just as you would stretch your muscles before attempting a ballet.

Just relax, no statement of scientific evidence or proof has been asserted. No one claims this is the explanation for those effects. It is just a tentative hypothesis among others, stretched a bit far because they were having trouble finding potential explanations within our usual boundries of known.

a reply to: klassless

There are so many ATS threads on this subject already, I'll just reference one of them. May save some of you some time.

Here ya go: www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: klassless

Not only is reality sometimes stranger than fiction it is just as unbelievable. I find this story utterly ridiculous. How can anyone in their right mind accept this out-of-this-world concept? An idea was proposed in 1960 and now, 56 years later, the "aliens" are using that idea! That's similar to "Bequette's Error":

The above seems to be the point of your OP, not the viability or presentation of the article. Scientists have observed a previously unkown phenomenon, and it is most closely related to that of a Dyson like effect. (After years of closely studying it and having jack else to compare it to)

a reply to: Kalixi

lol, very funny and very relevant, yes us looking at this dyson sphere can only assume at the moment, and i personally believe there are other intelligent lifeforms in this universe, so with that belief it would be fair to say that there are far more intelligent than us, than less intelligent. So to say these more intelligent lifeforms have harnessed the power of a sun to such great proportions is certainly plausible, if not probable.
But 500 years ago we were burning people as witches for anything that was unusual to us, "oh there's a shooting star......BURN THE WITCH!" in 500 years we will be looking back saying remember when we thought we were alone in the "Universes"! but that would be wrong cause many of us don't think that.

a reply to: klassless

The theory on Dyson spheres is simply being used as a possible explanation for the observed phenomenon. Not the final, not the only, but just one of the possible explanations. We don't know (yet) why the star fluctuates (fluctuated, relatively) as it does.

About your statements on Arnold: it's another example of the media picking out a nice savvy, juicy term that clings to the collective consciousness. "The King" actually never was a king, but I believe Elvis existed, likewise there was no real "Iron Curtain" drawn between East and West, but the guarded border nevertheless existed, and you'll catch my drift by now - there were no 'flying saucers', indeed, but the skies are riddled with unidentified flying objects. Who, might I add, have been called UFO's just BECAUSE we see a lot more shapes than just saucers-shapes.

BOB LAZAR HAS BEEN THERE!!!!!!

I think humans should do the same.

Build a Dyson Sphere around Old Sol,
Harvest all the NRG mankind would ever need for a million years

And shield enough of the sun's energy coming at the Earth to counteract Global Warming.

Kill two gigantic birds with one stone.