http://news.discovery.com/space/ali...-discovered-an-alien-megastructure-151014.htm
An interesting find. Excitement plus.
;-)
An interesting find. Excitement plus.
;-)
Keplar's "Alien" find
- Thread starter Boris2
- Start date
Maybe Seth's prediction of evidence for ETL within 20 years was a safe bet.
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.03622.pdf
ABSTRACT:
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. The dipping activity can last for between 5 and 80 days. We characterize the object with high-resolution spectroscopy, spectral energy distribution fitting, and Fourier analyses of the Kepler light curve. We determine that KIC 8462852 is a main-sequence F3 V/IV star, with a rotation period ∼ 0.88 d, that exhibits no significant IR excess. In this paper, we describe various scenarios to explain the mysterious events in the Kepler light curve, most of which have problems explaining the data in hand. By considering the observational constraints on dust clumps orbiting a normal main-sequence star, we conclude that the scenario most consistent with the data in hand is the passage of a family of exocomet fragments, all of which are associated with a single previous breakup event. We discuss the necessity of future observations to help interpret the system.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS:
In this paper, we have shown that KIC 8462852 is an unique source in the Kepler field. We conducted numerous observations of the star and its environment, and our analysis characterizes the object as both remarkable (e.g., the “dipping” events in the Kepler light curve) and unremarkable (ground-based data reveal no deviation from a normal F-type star) at the same time. We presented an extensive set of scenarios to explain the occurrence of the dips, most of which are unsuccessful in explaining the observations in their entirety. However, of the various considered, we find that the break-up of a exocomet provides the most compelling explanation. Observations of KIC 8462852 should continue to aid in unraveling its mysteries. First and foremost, long-term photometric monitoring is imperative in order to catch future dipping events. It would be helpful to know whether observations reveal no further dips, or continued dips. If the dips continue, are they periodic? Do they change in size or shape? On one hand, the more dips the more problematic from the lack of IR emission perspective. Likewise, in the comet scenario there could be no further dips; the longer the dips persist in the light curve, the further around the orbit the fragments would have to have spread. The possibility of getting color information for the dips would also help determine the size of the obscuring dust. On the other hand, following the prediction in Section 4.4.3, if a collision took place, we should see re-occurring dipping events caused from debris in 2017 May. Unfortunately, the 2015 April event likely went unobserved, as all available photometric archives we checked came up with nothing. In collaboration with the MEarth team (PI, D. Charbonneau), monitoring of KIC 8462852 will thankfully continue from the ground beginning in the Fall of 2015. This will enable us to establish a firm baseline of its variability post-Kepler. Several of the proposed scenarios are ruled out by the lack of observed IR excess (Section 2.4), but the comet scenario requires the least. However, if these are time-dependent phenomenon, there could be a detectable amount of IR emission if the system were observed today. In the comet scenario, the level of emission could vary quite rapidly in the near-IR as clumps pass through pericenter (and so while they are transiting). The WISE observations were made in Q5, so detecting IR-emission from the large impact scenario, assuming the impact occurred in Q8 (D800, Section 4.4.3), is also a possibility. We acknowledge that a long-term monitoring in the IR would be demanding on current resources/facilities, but variations detected in the optical monitoring could trigger such effort to observe at the times of the dips. Our most promising theory invokes a family of exocomets. One way we imagine such a barrage of comets could be triggered is by the passage of a field star through the system. And, in fact, as discussed above, there is a small star nearby (∼ 1000 AU; Section 2.3) which, if moving near to KIC 8462852, but not bound to it, could trigger a barrage of bodies into the vicinity of the host star. On the other hand, if the companion star is bound, it could be pumping up comet eccentricities through the Kozai mechanism. Measuring the motion/orbit of the companion star with respect to KIC 8462852 would be telling in whether or not it is associated, and we would then be able to put stricter predictions on the timescale and repeatability of comet showers based on bound or unbound star-comet perturbing models. Finally, comets would release gas (as well as dust), and sensitive observations to detect this gas would also test this hypothesis.
ABSTRACT:
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. The dipping activity can last for between 5 and 80 days. We characterize the object with high-resolution spectroscopy, spectral energy distribution fitting, and Fourier analyses of the Kepler light curve. We determine that KIC 8462852 is a main-sequence F3 V/IV star, with a rotation period ∼ 0.88 d, that exhibits no significant IR excess. In this paper, we describe various scenarios to explain the mysterious events in the Kepler light curve, most of which have problems explaining the data in hand. By considering the observational constraints on dust clumps orbiting a normal main-sequence star, we conclude that the scenario most consistent with the data in hand is the passage of a family of exocomet fragments, all of which are associated with a single previous breakup event. We discuss the necessity of future observations to help interpret the system.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS:
In this paper, we have shown that KIC 8462852 is an unique source in the Kepler field. We conducted numerous observations of the star and its environment, and our analysis characterizes the object as both remarkable (e.g., the “dipping” events in the Kepler light curve) and unremarkable (ground-based data reveal no deviation from a normal F-type star) at the same time. We presented an extensive set of scenarios to explain the occurrence of the dips, most of which are unsuccessful in explaining the observations in their entirety. However, of the various considered, we find that the break-up of a exocomet provides the most compelling explanation. Observations of KIC 8462852 should continue to aid in unraveling its mysteries. First and foremost, long-term photometric monitoring is imperative in order to catch future dipping events. It would be helpful to know whether observations reveal no further dips, or continued dips. If the dips continue, are they periodic? Do they change in size or shape? On one hand, the more dips the more problematic from the lack of IR emission perspective. Likewise, in the comet scenario there could be no further dips; the longer the dips persist in the light curve, the further around the orbit the fragments would have to have spread. The possibility of getting color information for the dips would also help determine the size of the obscuring dust. On the other hand, following the prediction in Section 4.4.3, if a collision took place, we should see re-occurring dipping events caused from debris in 2017 May. Unfortunately, the 2015 April event likely went unobserved, as all available photometric archives we checked came up with nothing. In collaboration with the MEarth team (PI, D. Charbonneau), monitoring of KIC 8462852 will thankfully continue from the ground beginning in the Fall of 2015. This will enable us to establish a firm baseline of its variability post-Kepler. Several of the proposed scenarios are ruled out by the lack of observed IR excess (Section 2.4), but the comet scenario requires the least. However, if these are time-dependent phenomenon, there could be a detectable amount of IR emission if the system were observed today. In the comet scenario, the level of emission could vary quite rapidly in the near-IR as clumps pass through pericenter (and so while they are transiting). The WISE observations were made in Q5, so detecting IR-emission from the large impact scenario, assuming the impact occurred in Q8 (D800, Section 4.4.3), is also a possibility. We acknowledge that a long-term monitoring in the IR would be demanding on current resources/facilities, but variations detected in the optical monitoring could trigger such effort to observe at the times of the dips. Our most promising theory invokes a family of exocomets. One way we imagine such a barrage of comets could be triggered is by the passage of a field star through the system. And, in fact, as discussed above, there is a small star nearby (∼ 1000 AU; Section 2.3) which, if moving near to KIC 8462852, but not bound to it, could trigger a barrage of bodies into the vicinity of the host star. On the other hand, if the companion star is bound, it could be pumping up comet eccentricities through the Kozai mechanism. Measuring the motion/orbit of the companion star with respect to KIC 8462852 would be telling in whether or not it is associated, and we would then be able to put stricter predictions on the timescale and repeatability of comet showers based on bound or unbound star-comet perturbing models. Finally, comets would release gas (as well as dust), and sensitive observations to detect this gas would also test this hypothesis.
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
They said something about scanning it for radio waves. I wish they'd scan the entire EMF spectrum. If these ARE aliens, and they're harnessing star energy, they are probably using frequencies far different from what we're used to.
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/workinginspace/great_wall.html
China's Wall Less Great in View from Space
05.09.05
It has become a space-based myth. The Great Wall of China, frequently billed as the only man-made object visible from space, generally isn't, at least to the unaided eye in low Earth orbit. It certainly isn't visible from the Moon.
You can, though, see a lot of other results of human activity.
Image to right: This photo of central Inner Mongolia, about 200 miles north of Beijing, was taken on Nov. 24, 2004, from the International Space Station. The yellow arrow points to an estimated location of 42.5N 117.4E where the wall is visible. The red arrows point to other visible sections of the wall. Credit: NASA.
+ View larger image
The issue surfaced again after photos taken by Leroy Chiao from the International Space Station were determined to show small sections of the wall in Inner Mongolia about 200 miles north of Beijing.
Taken with a 180mm lens and a digital camera last Nov. 24, it was the first confirmed photo of the wall. A subsequent Chiao photo, taken Feb. 20 with a 400mm lens, may also show the wall.
The photos by Chiao, commander and NASA ISS science officer of the 10th Station crew, were greeted with relief and rejoicing by the Chinese. One was displayed prominently in the nation's newspapers. Chiao himself said he didn't see the wall, and wasn't sure if the picture showed it.
Kamlesh P. Lulla, NASA's chief scientist for Earth observation at Johnson Space Center in Houston, directs observation science activities from the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. He says that generally the Great Wall is hard to see and hard to photograph, because the material from which it is made is about the same color and texture as the area surrounding it.
Another couple of relevant articles.......
http://phys.org/news/2015-08-interstellar-seeds-oases-life.html
Interstellar seeds could create oases of life
August 27, 2015
We only have one example of a planet with life: Earth. But within the next generation, it should become possible to detect signs of life on planets orbiting distant stars. If we find alien life, new questions will arise. For example, did that life arise spontaneously? Or could it have spread from elsewhere? If life crossed the vast gulf of interstellar space long ago, how would we tell?
New research by Harvard astrophysicists shows that if life can travel between the stars (a process called panspermia), it would spread in a characteristic pattern that we could potentially identify.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-08-interstellar-seeds-oases-life.html#jCp
http://phys.org/news/2015-08-interstellar-seeds-oases-life.html
Interstellar seeds could create oases of life
August 27, 2015
We only have one example of a planet with life: Earth. But within the next generation, it should become possible to detect signs of life on planets orbiting distant stars. If we find alien life, new questions will arise. For example, did that life arise spontaneously? Or could it have spread from elsewhere? If life crossed the vast gulf of interstellar space long ago, how would we tell?
New research by Harvard astrophysicists shows that if life can travel between the stars (a process called panspermia), it would spread in a characteristic pattern that we could potentially identify.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-08-interstellar-seeds-oases-life.html#jCp
http://phys.org/news/2015-10-mysterious-star-controversy.html
Mysterious star stirs controversy
October 20, 2015
Mysterious light on a distant star could be a sign of alien civilisation, some astronomers have claimed, stirring controversy among their peers. Not so fast, said NASA.
"The mysterious star, KIC 8462852, does have an odd light curve," said Steve Howell, a US space agency scientist working on the Kepler space telescope's planet-hunting mission, which launched in 2009 but lost its key orientation abilities in 2013
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-10-mysterious-star-controversy.html#jCp
And a couple of relevant extracts and interpretations.....
"It does not look like a normal exoplanet or binary star light curve. However, I think that saying that it immediately is alien is a bit of a stretch," Howell said in an email to AFP.
Boyajian's paper explored various natural scenarios, including defects with the Kepler space telescope, an asteroid pile-up or an impact that created a sea of comet debris.
and......
But another astronomer, Jason Wright, Penn State University, is preparing his own paper that interprets the light pattern as being the sign of an extraterrestrial civilization.
Wright theorizes that a "swarm of megastructures," perhaps on the order of alien solar energy panels, are to blame.
"When (Boyajian) showed me the data, I was fascinated by how crazy it looked," Wright told The Atlantic.
"Aliens should always be the very last hypothesis you consider, but this looked like something you would expect an alien civilization to build."
My opinion??
I hope to fuck it is shown to be some type of Alien civilisation and structure.
Otherwise a very interesting find, with potentially a very interesting and ground breaking discovery.....Or not.
Mysterious star stirs controversy
October 20, 2015
Mysterious light on a distant star could be a sign of alien civilisation, some astronomers have claimed, stirring controversy among their peers. Not so fast, said NASA.
"The mysterious star, KIC 8462852, does have an odd light curve," said Steve Howell, a US space agency scientist working on the Kepler space telescope's planet-hunting mission, which launched in 2009 but lost its key orientation abilities in 2013
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-10-mysterious-star-controversy.html#jCp
And a couple of relevant extracts and interpretations.....
"It does not look like a normal exoplanet or binary star light curve. However, I think that saying that it immediately is alien is a bit of a stretch," Howell said in an email to AFP.
Boyajian's paper explored various natural scenarios, including defects with the Kepler space telescope, an asteroid pile-up or an impact that created a sea of comet debris.
and......
But another astronomer, Jason Wright, Penn State University, is preparing his own paper that interprets the light pattern as being the sign of an extraterrestrial civilization.
Wright theorizes that a "swarm of megastructures," perhaps on the order of alien solar energy panels, are to blame.
"When (Boyajian) showed me the data, I was fascinated by how crazy it looked," Wright told The Atlantic.
"Aliens should always be the very last hypothesis you consider, but this looked like something you would expect an alien civilization to build."
My opinion??
I hope to fuck it is shown to be some type of Alien civilisation and structure.
Otherwise a very interesting find, with potentially a very interesting and ground breaking discovery.....Or not.
SETI Institute Undertakes Search for Alien Signal from Kepler Star KIC 8462852
by BOB KING on OCTOBER 21, 2015
“We either caught something shortly after an event like two planets crashing together or alien intelligence,” said Dr. Gerald Harp, senior scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, referring to thebaffling light variations seen in the Kepler star KIC 8462852.
And he and a team from the Institute are working hard at this moment to determine which of the two it is.
Beginning last Friday (Oct. 16), the Institute’s Allen Telescope Array (ATA) was taken off its normal survey schedule and instead focused on KIC 8462852, one of the 150,000-plus stars studied by NASA’s Kepler Mission to detect Earth-sized exoplanets orbiting distant stars.. The array of 42 dishes comprises a fully automated system that can run day and night, alerting staff whenever an unusual or interesting signal has been detected.
The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) is a “Large Number of Small Dishes” (LNSD) array designed to be highly effective for simultaneous surveys undertaken for SETI projects (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) at centimeter wavelengths. Credit: Seth Shostak / SETI Institute
much more at........
http://www.universetoday.com/122971...or-alien-signal-from-kepler-star-kic-8462852/
by BOB KING on OCTOBER 21, 2015
“We either caught something shortly after an event like two planets crashing together or alien intelligence,” said Dr. Gerald Harp, senior scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, referring to thebaffling light variations seen in the Kepler star KIC 8462852.
And he and a team from the Institute are working hard at this moment to determine which of the two it is.
Beginning last Friday (Oct. 16), the Institute’s Allen Telescope Array (ATA) was taken off its normal survey schedule and instead focused on KIC 8462852, one of the 150,000-plus stars studied by NASA’s Kepler Mission to detect Earth-sized exoplanets orbiting distant stars.. The array of 42 dishes comprises a fully automated system that can run day and night, alerting staff whenever an unusual or interesting signal has been detected.
The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) is a “Large Number of Small Dishes” (LNSD) array designed to be highly effective for simultaneous surveys undertaken for SETI projects (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) at centimeter wavelengths. Credit: Seth Shostak / SETI Institute
much more at........
http://www.universetoday.com/122971...or-alien-signal-from-kepler-star-kic-8462852/
Astronomers say comet fragments best explanation of mysterious dimming star
November 25, 2015
This illustration shows a star behind a shattered comet. Observations of the star KIC 8462852 by NASA's Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes suggest that its unusual light signals are likely from dusty comet fragments, which blocked the light of the star as they passed in front of it in 2011 and 2013. The comets are thought to be traveling around the star in a very long, eccentric orbit. Larger image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Was it a catastrophic collision in the star's asteroid belt? A giant impact that disrupted a nearby planet? A dusty cloud of rock and debris? A family of comets breaking apart? Or was it alien megastructures built to harvest the star's energy
Just what caused the mysterious dimming of star KIC 8462852?
Massimo Marengo, an Iowa State University associate professor of physics and astronomy, wondered when he saw all the buzz about the mysterious star found by citizen scientists on the Planet Hunters website.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-11-astronomers-comet-fragments-explanation-mysterious.html#jCp
November 25, 2015
This illustration shows a star behind a shattered comet. Observations of the star KIC 8462852 by NASA's Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes suggest that its unusual light signals are likely from dusty comet fragments, which blocked the light of the star as they passed in front of it in 2011 and 2013. The comets are thought to be traveling around the star in a very long, eccentric orbit. Larger image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Was it a catastrophic collision in the star's asteroid belt? A giant impact that disrupted a nearby planet? A dusty cloud of rock and debris? A family of comets breaking apart? Or was it alien megastructures built to harvest the star's energy
Just what caused the mysterious dimming of star KIC 8462852?
Massimo Marengo, an Iowa State University associate professor of physics and astronomy, wondered when he saw all the buzz about the mysterious star found by citizen scientists on the Planet Hunters website.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-11-astronomers-comet-fragments-explanation-mysterious.html#jCp