Astronomers may have found giant alien 'megastructures' orbiting star near the Milky

[kelroy55]

It will be interesting to see if they can find out more.


Astronomers may have found giant alien 'megastructures' orbiting star near the Milky Way | World | News | The Independent

[shawnw]

I'd love it to be evidence of civilization, but as with other things that seemed unlikely to be natural (e.g. the polar hexagon on Saturn) there's probably some kind of natural phenomenon occurring that we just haven't observed yet. Still will be neat to know what that phenomenon is.

That said, if it turns out to be a civilization, then awesome, obviously, but at 1500 lightyears, barring serious FTL tech advancement our two worlds shall never meet :-(

[MadMonk]

Very interesting. That would be awesome if it were to work out to be non-natural. Especially mind-blowing when you consider that anything we can see/detect from that location is already 1,500 years old.

[Just the facts]

Sorry if I have to laugh. The author says that the probability of natural phenomena is so small as to not even be considered, but the idea of alien origin is not only more likely, but probable. I'm guessing they need funding and "alien megastructures" pays better.

[jn1780]

These "structures" would have to be equal if not larger than Earth for us to see them. This would be a huge task even for the most advance civilizations.

[kevinpate]

Sooooo .... that's where the carpenter went. Good on him for working and not just living off his poppa's good name.

[Mel]

It's the HALO ring.

[trousers]

Maybe its another one of Gods tricks like dinosaur bones. He is quite the card.

[Questor]

So the science behind this one is pretty interesting, and it isn't mentioned in that article.

The way astronomers find planets revolving around other stars is they look at a star for long periods of time and try to measure a "dip" in brightness that occurs at regular intervals. If they see it, they've found a planet. A Jupiter sized planet usually causes about a 1% dip in light output.

What they are seeing is over a 20% dip in light output. This is enormous. There are only so many things it can be, and all of them are highly improbable. One possibility is that it could be remnants of an exploded planet, but most think that is unlikely because given time the chunks would have migrated back together due to gravity, and in cosmic timescales it is highly unlikely we would be observing such a thing shortly after it occurred. Another possibility is a dust cloud but then why isn't the light almost always dimmed out or why doesn't it look like other examples, so also unlikely. Another possibility is large chunks of an exploded comet tumbling around the star. This is the only viable theory a NASA paper was able to come up, but everyone including NASA thinks it's a stretch. Another possibility is a star collision or near collision in which the wandering star has dragged its own Oort cloud in front of the light of the star being observed, but then a phenomenon like that would most likely cause gravitational disturbances that could be observed, not to mention why can't we see the other star if that's the case.

Then there's the theory of large manufactured items in orbit of the star system, such as satellites and space stations. Next to the broken up massive comet bits it actually fits the model pretty nicely.

These aren't crackpots. These scientists went to NASA asking for help explaining this, and the result was that the scientific collective has asked for emergency time as early as January on one of America's largest radio telescopes, in part used in the SETI project.

I don't know if this is it, but this is the first time that it could be.

[Achilleslastand]

Wal-Mart or a Sonic......

[Urbanized]

Dyson sphere.

[kelroy55]

On a related note....

(CNN)The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute has its eyes -- and soon possibly one of the United States' premier telescopes -- focused on an anomaly that some astronomers can't quite explain.

Outer-space anomaly gets ET experts' attention - CNN.com

[White Peacock]

So the science behind this one is pretty interesting, and it isn't mentioned in that article.

The way astronomers find planets revolving around other stars is they look at a star for long periods of time and try to measure a "dip" in brightness that occurs at regular intervals. If they see it, they've found a planet. A Jupiter sized planet usually causes about a 1% dip in light output.

What they are seeing is over a 20% dip in light output. This is enormous. There are only so many things it can be, and all of them are highly improbable. One possibility is that it could be remnants of an exploded planet, but most think that is unlikely because given time the chunks would have migrated back together due to gravity, and in cosmic timescales it is highly unlikely we would be observing such a thing shortly after it occurred. Another possibility is a dust cloud but then why isn't the light almost always dimmed out or why doesn't it look like other examples, so also unlikely. Another possibility is large chunks of an exploded comet tumbling around the star. This is the only viable theory a NASA paper was able to come up, but everyone including NASA thinks it's a stretch. Another possibility is a star collision or near collision in which the wandering star has dragged its own Oort cloud in front of the light of the star being observed, but then a phenomenon like that would most likely cause gravitational disturbances that could be observed, not to mention why can't we see the other star if that's the case.

Then there's the theory of large manufactured items in orbit of the star system, such as satellites and space stations. Next to the broken up massive comet bits it actually fits the model pretty nicely.

These aren't crackpots. These scientists went to NASA asking for help explaining this, and the result was that the scientific collective has asked for emergency time as early as January on one of America's largest radio telescopes, in part used in the SETI project.

I don't know if this is it, but this is the first time that it could be.

Quality post.

[Questor]

Yes, as of yesterday they have already pointed one of SETI's large arrays of radio telescopes straight at it. Very interesting.

Search For Intelligent Aliens Near Bizarre Dimming Star Has Begun

[TU 'cane]

Michio Kaku suggested it may be on the scale of a massive Dyson Sphere (also mentioned above). I also read that the radio telescope is going to allow us to eavesdrop on any potential communications that may be exhibited from that region. Of course, it will all have happened in the past by the time we hear it (just like what is being seen happened approximately 1500 years ago - so it's possible the civilization - if there is one, moved on or is gone).

I forget now, but a paper with more extensive detail on these findings is due in a couple months, can someone confirm/deny? We should know more then.

[Just the facts]

What if we see them and they look like humans?

[kevinpate]

What if we see them and they look like humans?

What if we see them, but all we see is the eye of Sauron looking back

[YO MUDA]

Do you think our government would actually tell us what it really is?

[TU 'cane]

Do you think our government would actually tell us what it really is?

Depending on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go...

In my opinion, I think the covers (assuming there are any) will soon be removed out of necessity (due to the Internet, mostly).
But, if this tells you anything, these were "weekend astronomers" who found this and came public with it. They (Jason Wright and colleagues), as stated above found it, tried understanding it, and had to go to NASA for better equipped assistance, who we can assume either had no idea, or played dumb about it (either is possible).

[Just the facts]

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away....

Just say'n

[shawnw]

Even if we found out there was intelligent life orbiting the nearest star, and if we could get there in a few generations due to continually improving technology, it would be unwise for us to just land there (or vice versa) and reach out a hand in greeting without some well thought out process. Hopefully we'd have some kind of extensive first-contact protocol in place that involves screening their bio-chemistry (both of their "people" and their environs) for pathogens or what have you that, while perhaps harmless to them, might wipe us out. You wouldn't think that biology so foreign would even be compatible, but better safe than sorry IMO.

[turnpup]

OMG I'm so glad I finally opened this thread. This stuff is fascinating!!!

[Urbanized]

Even if we found out there was intelligent life orbiting the nearest star, and if we could get there in a few generations due to continually improving technology, it would be unwise for us to just land there (or vice versa) and reach out a hand in greeting without some well thought out process...

Too late. We've already done so unwittingly via radio and television signals. The good news is that they won't get those signals for more than a millennium, so we'll all be dead before they can come subjugate (or exterminate) us.

[kevinpate]

Color me old fashioned, but I suspect the day any group on our little blue marble is involved in a first contact, the long standing protocols of them what decide to reveal themselves with be explained to the newest entities to be visited with some degree of patience. Either that, or they'll disembark with bibs and forks and an alien version of a plains will begin ringing and one single verbal communication will be heard ... their word for Luunnnch,

[Just the facts]

We come in peace. Most of you will not survive.