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Could Giant Alien Structures Be Dimming a Far Away Star? (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit quotes a report from Science Magazine: Astronomers and alien life enthusiasts alike are buzzing over the sudden dimming of an otherwise unremarkable star 1300 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. KIC 8462852 or "Tabby's star" has dimmed like this several times before, prompting some researchers to suggest that the megastructures of an advanced alien civilization might be blocking its light. And now -- based on new data from numerous telescopes -- it's doing it again. "This is the first clear dip we have seen since [2013], and the first we have ever caught in real time," says Jason Wright, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University in State College. If they can rope in more telescopes, astronomers hope to gather enough data to finally figure out what's going on. "This could be the first of several dips about to come," says astronomer David Kipping of Columbia University. "Many observers will be closely watching." KIC 8462852 was first noticed to be dipping in brightness at seemingly random intervals between 2011 and 2013 by NASA's Kepler telescope. Kepler, launched to observe the stellar dimmings caused when an exoplanet passes in front of its star, revealed that the dimming of Tabby's star was much more erratic than a typical planetary transit. It was also more extreme, with its brightness sometimes dropping by as much as 20%. This was not the passage of a small circular planet, but of something much larger and more irregular.
Well does it block 40% of all neutrinos?
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Obligatory Google images link
And not just not, but fuck no.
That glow radiating from his skin ever since he placed his hands upon the orb still seems kind of creepy. Ever since the Invocation opened up the Portals to the Deep, things just haven't felt the same.
You're treating a symptom while the disease rages on. The fish rots from the head. Why not cut off the head?
Obviously, it's the debris of an alien megastructure, destroyed in an alien inter-galactic war!
Other bodies? like aliens???
These are people who for whatever reason WANT it to be an alien whatever and who see aliens and conspiracy theories everywhere with no regard to actual evidence. The pattern recognition parts of their brain are stuck in overdrive and no longer function properly because they are disconnected from the rational parts of their brain.
That's weird, I just decoded that same sentence from the digits of PI!
That's because Pi is an irrational number dude!
Imagine a situation of Trump's equivalent there President of the Solar System or the like.
I don't have to imagine it because Douglas Adams already wrote about him
When the words "NASA" and "alien" appear in the same sentence, the answer is "no".
Counterexample:
"Trump's budget proposal cuts funding of NASA climate missions and eliminates tax credits to illegal aliens "
Betteridge has not failed you, Trump is above the law.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
"The dimming of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus. "
:-)
Sorry, couldn't help myself...
[Genesis 2:7]
You can't argue with facts like that.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I am not an astronomer — not even an amateur one — but is "giant alien structure" really the simplest explanation they could come up with?
And how is it different from the "God made it so"?
No, and none of the actual astronomers and other scientists involved with this think it's the most likely answer. In fact most believe it's the least likely answer. However, it is possible based on what has been observed and, of course, the media latched on to that for headlines.
As to how it's different from "god made it so": this is testable, that isn't.
The good news is that because of all the interest there are a ton of resources looking at it right now so even if it's not an alien superstructure, we will probably learn something new from it.
Oh, another side benefit: When it comes back to be some weird natural phenomenon the tinfoil hat crowd will have another conspiracy about the government suppressing knowledge of an advanced alien race to keep them happy. So win-win-win.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
Unfortunately, due to a massive miscalculation of scale, the entire armada was later swallowed by a small dog.