'Alien Megastructure' Star Is at It Again with the Strange Dimming

a reply to: jtma508

Precisely. Especially if the swarm of comets is far from the star, such as the Oort Cloud.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Nice thread. Maybe it has a dim companion, like a black hole.

Probably not. If something massive enough were to obscure a stars brightness that much, it would also induce wobble in the star itself. The problem then becomes what is making the stars radiant output unstable?

Scary for locals there...

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: jtma508

Precisely. Especially if the swarm of comets is far from the star, such as the Oort Cloud.

Wouldn't the period between dimming be longer then?

My vote is something internal to the stars structure, not something between.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Just because it's irregular doesn't mean it's alien in nature. It could be a gas giants with many moons like Jupiter or Saturn, both have over 50 and it could be an asteroid belt, or possibly it's something that passed in the field of vision like a rogue planet.

I've been hunting planets for a few years now and that tweet shows what could be a transit, but its variables seems to suggest multiple moons. But then again i'm an idiot so what I say should be taken with a grain of salt.

interesting video, presentation...


the conclusion that the dimming was an from an astro-physical event (from a planet or other outside source)
does not fit well with me.

the Star itself with the 2009-2011-2013 dimming events, one being a week long dim, another reaching 15% dimming and the final 2 year cycle lasting 100 days with multiple lesser 'transits' involved...


just off the top of my head I propose the Star is not rotating on an Axis which is on an orbital plane that is horizontal to the Earth view.

I suspect we are witnessing the Star tumbling, and the 2 year repetition of dimming is because we are witnessing the North-&-South Poles of the Star rotate into and out of our field of vision... & those cooler Dark Spots where Sunspots are continuous and cause the week long, & 15% lessening of light as the Star's Magnetic Poles tumble in a head-on fashion to the Earth,


this unique Star spins on an axis but it also tumbles... and well may be torn apart eventually.... the Dyson Sphere is fascinating to contemplate but what hadn't that alien civilization accessed cold fusion for their energy needs instead of a hollow sphere that contains their Sun and planet in orbit



a star that both rotates and somersaults... now that's unusual & outside the box

originally posted by: intrptr

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: jtma508

Precisely. Especially if the swarm of comets is far from the star, such as the Oort Cloud.

Wouldn't the period between dimming be longer then?

Not if there's alot of comets.

My vote is something internal to the stars structure, not something between.

Me, too. We already know that dark matter forms filaments in space. Maybe bumping into these filaments makes the star affects nuclear fusion rates.

a reply to: jtma508

I would think that gas in orbit would create a ring but what do I know?

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: verschickter

In the last instance, yes, it turned out to be a comet swarm.

www.iflscience.com...

That's why I'm sceptical about the alien thing.

"We discuss the necessity of future observations to help interpret the system."

Final quote from the actual study they speak of in your link.

Comet swarms, planetary debris from a major collision are all good theory as stated by Cornell astrophysicistists in the study, which certainly know more than I. but are not fact as you state. Simply theory

originally posted by: swanne

originally posted by: intrptr

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: jtma508

Precisely. Especially if the swarm of comets is far from the star, such as the Oort Cloud.

Wouldn't the period between dimming be longer then?

Not if there's alot of comets.

My vote is something internal to the stars structure, not something between.

Me, too. We already know that dark matter forms filaments in space. Maybe bumping into these filaments makes the star affects nuclear fusion rates.

Thats some pressure to effect a suns radiance, from without. We would see what caused that. Unless its a dark companion that de stabilized it in passing...

Halo
or not...

Its 1300 light years away.. who knows, maybe the dimming is totally over by now.. This type of stuff fascinates me.. Waaaaaay better thread than the Trump/Russia crap we constantly see..

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: Kandinsky

Hm. I still dnt think it's alien just because it doesn't fit our models. As far as we know, it could be some interaction with dark matter affecting nuclear fusion in the star itself, through the W force or something.

In any instances, SETI has already checked for communication signals there, and found none.

How unique, a ship coming this way is deemed too far out for consideration by you and others and then you tell us that SETI has already looked for intelligent life signals. What's wrong with the thinking here is it me or elsewhere?

a reply to: Kandinsky

Thanks heavens, a thread not about Trump. I find this fascinating and will be following closely. Thank you!

Dammit! Answered in the other thread. *use the NEW filter people*

No official report from last year's observations either. But the guesstimate was a "phase transition" but no word on what translation it is/going to.

I think that the "ate a planet" idea is now shot. Which makes Taby's Star very curious indeed!

a reply to: Kandinsky

Dyson Swarm

I know most people when they think of Dyson, they think of a Dyson Sphere, and that evokes images of a solid shell around the star as shown in movies, TV shows and scifi books.

However, Dyson never meant that it had to be a solid shell.

Surrounding a star with other objects that are able to collect power would be in effect a Dyson Sphere. This could be thousands, hundreds of thousands to millions of solar collection arrays in orbit around the star. It can take a while to manufacture them and get them into place. They would dim the star only sightly at first, and even with hundreds of thousands of them, it would only dim the star a certain percentage while being worked on, but would still collect massive amounts of energy from that star.

Isaac Arthur talks about Dyson and these ideas on his Science and Futurism channel. He even talks about Tabby's Star in this video:



Just food for thought: A Dyson Sphere does not have to be a solid construction and a solid shell.

a reply to: gortex

I'm really enjoying this. It's not often we get to watch the process of explaining a mystery and the discussion is 'live' before our eyes. We've seen one explanation after another come unstuck so far and who knows what'll happen next? Could be an answer coming soon.

Your own thread (Tabby's Star Just Got Even Stranger , again) has been a part of the history.

a reply to: swanne

I can't help but notice that the claim that "it's probably alien" has been timed with the coming out of the new Alien movie, the sequel to Prometheus. I just hope this isn't all just another Hollywood-driven hype.

The alien angle arose in late 2015 when Jason Wright considered a Dyson-style technology as the last of several possible explanations. It caught the media's attention and then caught fire across social media.

a reply to: intrptr

Probably not. If something massive enough were to obscure a stars brightness that much, it would also induce wobble in the star itself. The problem then becomes what is making the stars radiant output unstable?

I tend to favour the idea that it's a feature of the star itself rather than separate objects obscuring it from our observatories. Perhaps we're witnessing something akin to a guttering candle? The precursors to the precursors of instability. It's fascinating to see the narrative unfold whatever the conclusion may be.


a reply to: Thecakeisalie

Just because it's irregular doesn't mean it's alien in nature. It could be a gas giants with many moons like Jupiter or Saturn, both have over 50 and it could be an asteroid belt, or possibly it's something that passed in the field of vision like a rogue planet.

The thread title is from the source article linked in the OP. It's an intriguing possibility for us humble lay people and not a real consideration amongst the astronomers investigating it.

I've read most of the papers about it and they've done their due diligence quite thoroughly. For every idea, there's a paper rebutting it or, at least, highlighting the shortfalls. It's really been quite a saga and the ingenuity has made me smile a lot. They've looked under every metaphorical rock to back up or disprove hypotheses.

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: Kandinsky

Hm. I still dnt think it's alien just because it doesn't fit our models.

True. Granted, the cause of this star's behavior could still be "Alien Megastructure", but as you noted, just because we don't currently have a natural (non-alien megastructure/alien spacecraft) explanation, that does not mean such a natural explanation does not exist.

There have been people on ATS saying that since science has no natural explanation, then that means it is LIKLEY an alien megastructure. However, many of those same people would be the first to eagerly point out on other threads that "science doesn't know everything" when science is used to explain some other apparently weird phenomenon.

Until hard evidence could be found that confirms the idea that KIC 8462852/Boyajian's Star dims die to an alien megastructure, it is still very plausible that the dimming has a natural cause that is yet to be understood by science -- because science does not know everything.

a reply to: eriktheawful

Periodicity is the sticking point. The dimming isn't consistent by degree or by frequency which is one reason why it's become so intriguing.

It's delicious

a reply to: swanne

Where the heck do you get all your information? A whole bunch of stars acting the same? News to me. Last time it was determined to be a comet swarm? News to me. I thought they had no idea but that was ONE theory. Damn, you sure seem to know it all about this matter when no one else on the entire planet seems to know a damn thing for certain.