# Radio telescope starts analysing 'bizarre' star.



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Oct 20, 2015)

Researchers have begun an in depth study of a 'bizarre' star they say could be surrounded by a huge alien megastructure known as a Dyson sphere.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere






KIC 8462852, located 1,480 light-years away, was monitored by the Kepler Space Telescope for more than four years, beginning in 2009.
Now researchers have secured time to point the Allen Telescope Array at the star






The  ATA is  a system of radio dishes about 300 miles (483 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.
'We are looking at it with the Allen Telescope Array,' Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California, told space.com.
However, he warned the strange readings may not be caused by extraterrestrial megastructures, warning people 'should perhaps moderate their enthusiasm with the lessons of history.'
'So history suggests we're going to find an explanation for this that doesn't involve Klingons, if you will.'

Experts have been baffled by the readings. 'We'd never seen anything like this star,' Tabetha Boyajian, a postdoc at Yale, told The Atlantic.

'It was really weird. 'We thought it might be bad data or movement on the spacecraft, but everything checked out.'

She recently published a paper in the online journal arxiv outlining the possible causes - and discounting many of them.

'Over the duration of the Kepler mission, KIC 8462852 was observed to undergo irregularly shaped, aperiodic dips in flux down to below the 20% level,' Boyajian and her team at the crowdsourced astronomy site planet hunters found.

There, researchers flagged the star as bizarre as early as 2011.





The ATA is a system of radio dishes about 300 miles (483 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Telescope_Array

Wright and his co-authors say the unusual star's light pattern is consistent with a 'swarm of megastructures,' perhaps stellar-light collectors, technology designed to catch energy from the star known as Dyson Spheres.

First proposed by theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson in 1960, it is a swarm of satellites that surrounds a star.

They could be an enclosed shell, or spacecraft spread out to gather its energy - known as a Dyson swarm.


Heres a picture i found explaining exactly where it is.





Wright is now working with the SETI Institute in Berkeley and Boyajian to develop a proposal to point a large radio telescope (either the NRAO's Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia or the Parkes Observatory scope in Australia) at the star, and listen for a 'hum' of alien technology.


*THE FRUITLESS SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE*
Scientists have been searching for signs of intelligent life in the cosmos under the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti) programme since the 1960s.

Initially it was conducted on the fringe of radio astronomy, with just short amounts of time obtained on relatively small radio telescopes.

However, in 1984 the Seti Institute was established to provide a coordinated approach to the search, using radio telescopes as permanent 'ears' to listen for alien signals.

The project however suffered a set back in 1994 when Nasa funding to Seti was cut and it now seeks support from private sources instead.

The project has yet to detect any positive signs of signals from intelligent life, but some scientists have predicted it could happen within the next 20 years.

However, the project has also been criticised for being overly optimistic despite not receiving any signals in the past 30 years.

Recently scientists proposed taking a more active approach by broadcasting signals to nearby stars in the hope of getting a response.


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## rtwjunkie (Oct 20, 2015)

Oh, your map explaining exactly where it is made things so clear for me!  Now I can go find it.  

Seriously, much appreciated putting all that together!


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## Steevo (Oct 20, 2015)

A dyson swarm or sphere is only one explanation, one of the other natural possibilities is that a massive comet cloud/planet debris field is orbiting the star. 

Granted it would be awesome to find extraterrestrial life was out there and capable of building and or sending a signal out into space. But we need to consider the following things.

They don't know us and don't care to.
They know of us and don't care to know more.
They have all died.
They are hostile.
They are so advanced at communicating that we will be like kids with cans and strings to them.
They are awesome and have been waiting for us to find them, fix all of our social, race, economic, and energy issues, while educating even the most hardcore racist idiots........ yeah probably not.


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## thesmokingman (Oct 20, 2015)

That's a Death Star!


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## the54thvoid (Oct 20, 2015)

Steevo said:


> fix all of our social, race, economic, and energy issues, while educating even the most hardcore racist idiots........ yeah probably not.



That would sum up the Borg.

TBH, I care not for the notion of a Dyson Sphere.  The raw materials to build such an array or orbital envelope is beyond comprehension.  Not saying it couldn't happen but it's surprising scientists have even considered it a possibility.  If you had that much technology and that much materials science know how, you'd have built a trans galactic space faring vehicle instead.  Given all stars die, the investment in either (A) a stationary energy source using an unprecedented amount of raw materials or (B) a space faring vehicle to transport your civilisation, it would seem logical to 'travel' and not die with your star.


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## Frick (Oct 20, 2015)

the54thvoid said:


> TBH, I care not for the notion of a Dyson Sphere.  The raw materials to build such an array or orbital envelope is beyond comprehension.  Not saying it couldn't happen but it's surprising scientists have even considered it a possibility.  If you had that much technology and that much materials science know how, you'd have built a trans galactic space faring vehicle instead.  Given all stars die, the investment in either (A) a stationary energy source using an unprecedented amount of raw materials or (B) a space faring vehicle to transport your civilisation, it would seem logical to 'travel' and not die with your star.



I've always imagined them as a sort of force field and not a structure as such.


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## Freezer (Oct 20, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Researchers have begun an in depth study of a 'bizarre' star they say could be surrounded by a huge alien megastructure known as a Dyson sphere.



You can hide your weed in there.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Oct 21, 2015)

@rtwjunkie













does that help? 


this will.........................how to find kc 8462852

http://www.darkskytelescopehire.co....ucture-star-kic-8462852-in-a-small-telescope/


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## Freezer (Oct 21, 2015)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> @rtwjunkie
> 
> 
> 
> ...




That's some crazy stuff... too bad some people can't comprehend the vastness of this universe and galaxy. I'm most likely stuck living on planet stupid with its primates.


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## qubit (Oct 21, 2015)

This could so be made into a film and I'd definitely watch it. I suspect it's been done already.


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## FordGT90Concept (Oct 21, 2015)

Two things:
-That picture wouldn't work.  Gravity is a function of mass and in order for a Dyson sphere to stay in place, it would need more or less the same mass everywhere and be extremely strong.  The internal forces exerted on an object that large are insane.
-Has much thought been given to whether or not a Dyson sphere would even move relative to its star?  If so, by what means?

Imagine how many star systems would have to be destroyed just to accumulate enough resources to build a single Dyson sphere.  The idea may be great for science fiction but it isn't practical for science fact.  And then all that work goes to trash when the star dies.

Fusion energy is within reach of mankind only a few centuries after inventing the first internal combustion engine.  If a society like ours can create a miniature star on our planet, why would someone even need a Dyson sphere?



I think there's something wrong with the star; my guess is it would have something to do with the composition--something that causes the surface of the star to flame out and, when the core finishes gnawing on the problem, it flares up again.


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## RCoon (Oct 21, 2015)

That's no star(TM) 

In reality, it's probably not extra terrestrial. Anything we don't understand is classed as alien. It's just some crazies heard the word alien and ran with it further than should be possible.


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