boogabooga
Bug Crusher
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Could it not be some sort of dust or debris cloud in the interstellar space between us and the star? Might explain why it is not glowing in IR.
Aliens could be hippies, smelling flowers and bathing in the Sun. Could be intelligent, but not technological.
Could it not be some sort of dust or debris cloud in the interstellar space between us and the star? Might explain why it is not glowing in IR.
Placing my bets on some sort of instrument error, but this is quite odd.
How long is it expected to take until the next possible independent confirmation of this? I would assume that Kepler is pretty much the only device available that can accurately measure light intensity fluctuations with the sensitivity that is needed for this? (it was designed for tracking light variations due to transits of extrasolar planets, so I would think that nothing available beforehand was capable of doing that)
Placing my bets on some sort of instrument error, but this is quite odd.
How long is it expected to take until the next possible independent confirmation of this? I would assume that Kepler is pretty much the only device available that can accurately measure light intensity fluctuations with the sensitivity that is needed for this? (it was designed for tracking light variations due to transits of extrasolar planets, so I would think that nothing available beforehand was capable of doing that)
This analysis concludes that instrumental effects or artifacts in
the data reduction are not the cause of the observed dipping events,
and thus the nature of KIC 8462852’s light curve is astrophysical
in origin.
FWIW, an instrumentation error with Kepler has been ruled out per the research paper.
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.03622v1.pdf
Page 8
We inspected light curves of neighboring sources and find that
they do not show similar variability patterns in their light curves.
...
We verified with the Kepler team mission scientists that the data were of good quality.
But a ground based telescope could also do such observations for a number of days, 1500 LY is not that far away that an especially large telescope is needed. Maybe you might miss some sudden events that way, but the big picture could be seen.
Well we couldn't check on the 750 days major events in April 2015 because Kepler's wheel had died out, but you can be sure than in early Spring 2017, everything we have capable of monitoring this star will be used round the clock if we are serious about searching for an explanation.
Using 2 online calculators, I got an orbital distance of 1.8 AU from the star with a period of 750 days. Using the star's luminosity and temperature, I get a planetary equilibrium temperature of 279 K... If anyone wants to crush the numbers, please do... i find these values... fascinating. :hmm:
A lot of technology is dictated by the laws of physics.
The shapes and brands might be different, but basic ideas would very likely be similar.
What light dip is this for ? The 22% one? Since they're not exactly cyclical....
And pretty much all technology is dictated by energy. The more tech, the more energy you need so, one of the best places to get energy from is the star which is why solar collectors and dyson spheres are popular ideas.
Anyway, for this star could it not be a mass of objects in an orbit similar to the oort cloud but perhaps bigger?
Could it not be a destroyed planet? There are so many potential explanations that to go "aliens!" is a bit silly
Wouldnt a destroyed planet show a constant dip in light rather than several intense peaks. Unless it fractured into chunks and that seems to be impossible from my knowledge.