A second Dyson sphere? Star EPIC 204278916 shows strange ‘flickering’ of up to 65 per cent

a reply to: pfishy

Hmmm, I'm baffled to be honest. Hmm, not planetry occulation?

I am interested it has similar conditions to the other also? But 65% that's huge amount?

a reply to: CaptainBeno

The only reason I thought occultation is because if it's only one short period of observation, and a red dwarf not orbiting the star passed between us and it, it could cause a large dip in brightness. Especially if the dwarf has, say, a dusty accretion disc surrounding it.

a reply to: pfishy
25 days is problematic for that scenario.
No matter how you look at it.

a reply to: CaptainBeno

That is, of course, if the erratic light levels have only been observed in the 78.8 day period mentioned, but never in the past. If we have data on it.

a reply to: Phage

Like I said, just spit balling.

a reply to: pfishy

It's more than I got.

But it doesn't really seem to work.

a reply to: Phage

It does seem possible that there could very well be a redshift dwarf we haven't yet charted in that direction though. They are apparently beyond common by most models, and we have to look for them specifically to find them due to the low luminosity.

a reply to: Phage

It could have been just a passing alignment which occurred when we were looking.

Double post

a reply to: pfishy

EPIC 204278916’s light fluctuated erratically by up to 65 per cent over 25 consecutive days.

a reply to: Phage

How long would it take for anot her star to pass between us and it?

a reply to: pfishy
That would depend upon how fast that star was moving and how far away it was.

But if that were to happen we would not see an erratic fluctuation. We would see a dimming, then a brightening.

So something that blocks light obscured it to us for 25 days. Maybe that stars "ort cloud" is very dense in places compared to our own.

a reply to: Phage

That's why I mentioned it possibly having a disc around it. That could cause erratic dimming instead of a smooth curve.

Thank you for a great read!

a reply to: Phage

Though, without actually seeing the light curve, I might as well be speculating that a passing cloud of Twinkies caused it.

a reply to: TinfoilTP
That's, more or less, one of the proposals about Tabby's. Seems to be a long shot.

a reply to: Phage

Right, a swarm of dusty comets or something like it.

a reply to: pfishy

Well, if its a near system causing it, it would do it to other stars as it moves.

a reply to: Phage

Very true. I suppose that at a distance to make this not a factor, we would be able to see any system large enough.