SETI: On the Verge of a Breakthrough?

originally posted by: Glassbender777
Amazing, paper. I would like to know what comet has a duration of 5-80 days in the area of the star where it acts as a natural barrier for the photons leaving that star. Unless the star is relatively small and the comets are pretty much continous. Or the comets are pretty much orbiting like planets, I just dont see this

The star concerned is classified as F3. That means it's likely to be somewhat larger than our Sun. And yes, I agree, the marked, and relatively short term, and sometimes complex variations in light output would require very close-packed comets, of remarkable opacity.
We see no evidence of infrared scattering, such as the expected dust from such comets should produce. We don't even know that there has been an intruding star in this system, that might have drawn in such comets.

a reply to: DannyTorrance

Well, to be honest we have some technologies to begin works on our own Dyson sphere, and other advanced technology, but we don't have the industrial power or means to do it. Instead we spend all day yelling at one another and screwing over each other for the benefit of a few.
Maybe this civilization just works together much more efficient and gets along better. Who knows, as of right now it's pure speculation and probably won't hear much more 'amazing' news for at least another year or so.

Wow. While I always remain reserved in my excitement for such otherwise promising leads in our quest to find life beyond Earth, I would be lying if I said this wasn't the most tantalizing potential sign yet to fall within SETI's crosshairs.

I look forward very eagerly to their expanded investigation of the star and that location in our sky. I've said before and I will now reiterate: I think I would die a lot happier and more fulfilled if I knew we had compelling, persuasive evidence of a species out there somewhere - even without any contact - that made it beyond the tumultuous phase we currently find ourselves in, and was perpetuating itself through the stars; that some intelligence in the cosmos survives, no matter what happens to us.

Peace.

a reply to: slip2break

Thank you very much for posting this. It is a curious result. The only obvious solution to the light curve dips I can think of is that there is a rogue planet, perhaps a binary, sitting on the line of sight from Kepler to the star. Figuring out Kepler's orbit and assuming proper motion for the star and the undiscovered rogue planet should enable someone who was interested to see if it is a possible solution. I'm surprised the authors didn't eliminate it in their paper.

originally posted by: Sparkymedic

originally posted by: seaswine
This is great! I really hope it turns out to be the vulcans or something. Not the comet cloud the paper hypothesizes it to be.

If everyone knew, without a shadow of doubt there is another intelligent species within our galaxy, just imagine the good it could possibly do. Maybe we'd take the trillions spent on fighting each other, and put it all towards more exploration of space. Heck, it's what we should already be doing...

No, it isn't.

What we should be doing already is helping everyone on this planet attain a modern standard of living. Then, take care of the wars, corruption, crime, greed, hunger, poverty and other strife.

And after all of that is done, THEN we can go to the stars!

Until then, it's a waste of time and resources to go into space, as it's nothing but a REALLY expensive drop in the bucket of possibilities for space exploration. And on top of THAT, we know more about outer space than our own ocean floor!

Space is super cool and all (no pun intended), but logic, selflessness and the courage to help one another is MUCH more important in this present moment.

And the first person to change that mind set is you.
Thinking we can't change starts at the individual level.

You are absolutely dead wrong about what you said, space exploration is extremely important, it's our next step in industrial world we live in, the next step in survival, science, pretty much everything, especially banding together for a common goal.

More speculation and the Fermi Paradox -

Since the star is an F3 and is larger and more massive than our sun then it has a much shorter lifespan. There is a much narrower time window for planet formation and for an advanced intelligent civilization to evolve. It stands to reason then that it would be unlikely that this star is the alien's home system.

Kepler has only surveyed a very small fraction of the visible galaxy and was the first spacecraft capable of making these observations. Since the star is unlikely to be the alien's home system, and we discovered one of their megastructures after observing a very small portion of the visible sky and on our first attempt, then it is reasonable to assume they must have colonized many star systems.

The Fermi Paradox has been perplexing scientists for years because there shouldn't be anything exceptional about earth. And if an intelligent civilization arose millions or billions of years earlier than us they would have colonized the galaxy by now and we should see the evidence. Kepler is giving us the ability to do so for the first time.

If it is all true, then the big questions remaining are - What is their relation to Earth and did they seed our planet in the first place? Have they been visiting and interacting with us?

How about we are already the product of a Type 3 galactic civilization that come here on earth thousands of years ago, and manipulate the dna of native lifeforms such as apes, which gave way to the evolution of modern man.

Hence in the process, gave us the knowledge, in astronomy, and knowledge to build precision megalithic structures that are aligned with the cosmos and nature, to remind us of where we originated from. Time capsules that have survived natural disasters, still standing there for thousands of years despite still.

Therefore, we refer to our creators as those "who ascended from the sky", and we worship some of them as gods to this day.

This doesn't sound too far fetched, now that we maybe seeing evidence of intelligent designs in the cosmos. Even our own scientists know there is a possibility of life outside of earth.

Soon later we should find out, as we feel the birth pangs to move from a type 0 to a type 1 planetary civilization.

Hopefully, future data will point towards more evidence for this hypothesis.

Glad they spotted the anomaly.

originally posted by: DannyTorrance
More speculation and the Fermi Paradox -

Since the star is an F3 and is larger and more massive than our sun then it has a much shorter lifespan. There is a much narrower time window for planet formation and for an advanced intelligent civilization to evolve. It stands to reason then that it would be unlikely that this star is the alien's home system.
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An F3 star should have a main sequence lifetime of about 2 & 1/2 billion years. Long enough for life to evolve, but probably not intelligent life or civilizations.
We might be looking at a stellar engineering project intended to greatly extend the life of this star. This is possible, in principal, by remixing the stratified, fusible hydrogen back into the core of the star.
Perhaps the large objects seen blocking some of the star's light are technical devices needed to accomplish such a project. It's interesting to think that the star's own energy might be used to remake it into a much longer-lived abode for life.

a reply to: slip2break

Possible beginnings of a Dyson Sphere/ring, or other celestial engineering at play?

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: Ross 54

That's an excellent point. Definitely a possibility. It would be the logical thing to do.

Star Lifting

I was also considering the possibility that they operate solar collectors in a Dyson Swarm like louvers to relieve the pressure from the solar wind and the heat build up over time. The pressure and heat build up would push the solar collectors away from the star and wear on the equipment. They may only need full power for specific purposes like launching spacecraft in which case they could keep much of the swarm on standby when it isn't needed.

Speaking of Dyson's Spheres... Could one explanation for the Fermi paradox be that sufficiently advanced civilizations occlude their stars technologically and only transmit interior to these structures, so we see nothing when we look for them? In which case, that would mean we caught them part way through construction?

Peace.

a reply to: AceWombat04

It would still radiate in infrared because of the heat. I believe there have already been infrared surveys to test that particular hypothesis.

But why completely surround the star if you don't need the power. Maybe there is an upper limit on the amount of energy that could be practically exploited. Even using beamed energy to launch spacecraft out into the galaxy would only require a fraction of the stars energy. So a partial Dyson swarm is probably more likely than a full sphere.

a reply to: AceWombat04

One has to wonder what any civilisation capable of hiding and utilising the output of a star could be hiding from or afraid of? Considering the level of technological accomplishment required.

originally posted by: reldra
a reply to: slip2break

Black holes will eat light. I am not aware of anything else that could...but that doesn't mean there isn;t something else there. Nice find. s&f

possible, but unlikely, as you would also see the refractive bending of light from a black hole.

Ah, yes I forgot about heat detection. Hmm. I hope we find something other than comet debris. We shall see.

Peace.

originally posted by: strongfp

originally posted by: Sparkymedic

originally posted by: seaswine
This is great! I really hope it turns out to be the vulcans or something. Not the comet cloud the paper hypothesizes it to be.

If everyone knew, without a shadow of doubt there is another intelligent species within our galaxy, just imagine the good it could possibly do. Maybe we'd take the trillions spent on fighting each other, and put it all towards more exploration of space. Heck, it's what we should already be doing...

No, it isn't.

What we should be doing already is helping everyone on this planet attain a modern standard of living. Then, take care of the wars, corruption, crime, greed, hunger, poverty and other strife.

And after all of that is done, THEN we can go to the stars!

Until then, it's a waste of time and resources to go into space, as it's nothing but a REALLY expensive drop in the bucket of possibilities for space exploration. And on top of THAT, we know more about outer space than our own ocean floor!

Space is super cool and all (no pun intended), but logic, selflessness and the courage to help one another is MUCH more important in this present moment.

And the first person to change that mind set is you.
Thinking we can't change starts at the individual level.

You are absolutely dead wrong about what you said, space exploration is extremely important, it's our next step in industrial world we live in, the next step in survival, science, pretty much everything, especially banding together for a common goal.

That doesn't have to be true either, although it would still require remarkable engineering feats, building a civilization under water or underground could provide much protection from future cataclysms.

Space exploration is of course vitally important but there is much we have to learn here also. And taking our warring selfs into space could potentially problematic. The difference between successfully colonizing other worlds or destroying them.

A megastructure would also cause an increase in the amount of infrared radiation. Stuff lit by a sun gets hot, independent of whether it is natural or artificial. Afaik the proposed method to detect dyson sphere like constructs is to look for atypical IR signatures.

My guess would be the close companion star messing with the Oort cloud of KIC 8462852.

My understanding of a *true* Dyson Sphere is that there would be successive layers to catch the heat radiated from the first. The idea of course being to use all of the energy output of a star.

I'm hedging my bets as to what this actually is for real, but imagine the implications of the first signs we meet of another civ being a dyson sphere, i can scarce take that on board. Loftiest hopes of science realised etc etc. Fingers all crossed.

They a drip feeding the information that many of us have know for years.
1903, heavier than air flight was impossible.1969, we were on the moon.