The Most Mysterious Star in Our Galaxy (1 Viewer)

[St. Louis Bob]

This could be cool.

 

[Cjw_55106]

I thought this was another Kardashian thread.

 

[Insein]

.

 

[Scoresman]

This time its definitely aliens.

 

[TheAristocrat]

Read this a day or two ago. Super cool find and I'm wildly interested in what we find next.

 

[St. Louis Bob]

This time its definitely aliens.

Read this a day or two ago. Super cool find and I'm wildly interested in what we find next.

's

 

[CBusAlex]

This time its definitely aliens.

It's been "not aliens" like a million times in a row now, so "aliens" is definitely due.

 

[George Jefferson Airplane]

You'll rue the day you made light of this star! :shakesfist:

 

[McGarnicle]

I don't want to wait until January or next fall. Point the VLA at that thing now imo.

 

[matttyl]

How far away is the star?

Also, with this dimming thing - the three things would have to be in a perfect line, correct? The last sentence of the article says that if something is there, they would see our star dim every 365 days. But that would only be the case if the Earth is exactly between the Sun and them. Given how small the Earth is compared to the Sun, and how far we are from it - that's a very slim chance, right?

 

[Statcruncher]

I'm guessing it's a smudge on the lens.

 

[St. Louis Bob]

I'm guessing it's a smudge on the lens.

Swamp gas IMO.

 

[Jobber]

Wow.

 

[Brony]

Take that, Emma Watson!

 

[Gianni Verscotchie]

I WANT to believe!!

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Everybody knows that solar power is a waste of time.

 

[captain_amazing]

This has made my day. Not that it means anything right now, but just thinking about it is fascinating.

Let's play out a hypothetical: say they determine the flashes are due to an artificial structure, how does that change/affect our culture/world? How do those changes occur from day one, to a year, five years, a decade...?

I think the discovery of some kind of evidence of extraterrestrial life that was very compelling would significantly ramp up investment in space travel research and technology, increase our investment in STEM education, and would eventually cause more international cooperation in space (and other) activities. However, I think we might see an initial outburst of violence, religious or otherwise, from individuals and groups that felt threatened somehow by the weight of the discovery.

 

[captain_amazing]

If it is evidence of extraterrestrial life, Trump will want to build a wall to keep out the aliens.

 

[AnonymousBob]

.

 

[Frostillicus]

We should probably just send nukes at it right now. To be safe.

 

[TheAristocrat]

Watch. We point the VLA at it and two days later ships larger than we can fathom come into orbit sending us a bunch of 0s and 1s that translate to "THE #### DO YOU WANT?"

 

[Buckna]

Watch. We point the VLA at it and two days later ships larger than we can fathom come into orbit sending us a bunch of 0s and 1s that translate to "THE #### DO YOU WANT?"

I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.

 

[joffer]

pretty cool

Kepler has been incredibly successful

 

[tommyboy]

Im not saying its aliens, but....

Its aliens

 

[Koya]

I thought this was another Kardashian thread.

I thought it is? Her ### is being used by some alien civilization to block out their sun or something like that.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Probably just viral marketing for some new show on FOX

 

[MikeIke]

SETI is already looking at it

http://www.universetoday.com/122971/seti-institute-undertakes-search-for-alien-signal-from-kepler-star-kic-8462852/

 

[Limp Ditka]

Those are no moons

 

[captain_amazing]

SETI is already looking at it

http://www.universetoday.com/122971/seti-institute-undertakes-search-for-alien-signal-from-kepler-star-kic-8462852/

So, this star is like, relatively close at 1500 light years. How's Hubble for taking a picture of something like this? I mean, Hubble can snap a photo of a billion galaxies trillions of light years away in the darkest, farthest points of the universe, is it just not made to focus on something so close?

I don't think it's a focus issue. Rather, I think it's a factor of both distance and size. Even at incredible distances, the furthest galaxies that Hubble can see give off so much light and are so large that they are detectable by Hubble, whereas a star, even a few thousand light years distant, is just so small in comparison. It's like trying to use binoculars to peer at a mountain in the distance, miles away, and an ant a few feet away.

 

[MikeIke]

SETI is already looking at it

http://www.universetoday.com/122971/seti-institute-undertakes-search-for-alien-signal-from-kepler-star-kic-8462852/

So, this star is like, relatively close at 1500 light years. How's Hubble for taking a picture of something like this? I mean, Hubble can snap a photo of a billion galaxies trillions of light years away in the darkest, farthest points of the universe, is it just not made to focus on something so close?

Hubble can't focus on one object. It takes pictures of things that are thousands of light years across. Is very good at what it does, but it wasn't built fot something like this. That's why it wasn't able to get a good picture of Pluto.

 

[NCCommish]

It's not an alien structure. It would have to be bigger than Jupiter and the orbit makes no sense. Interesting find though.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Has to be an alien built structure IMO. Maybe something to deter meteors or fat chicks?

 

[NCCommish]

Has to be an alien built structure IMO. Maybe something to deter meteors or fat chicks?

I hadn't considered the fat chick thing, you may have a point.

 

[Amused to Death]

Well if they decide to come visit us, they damn well better be able speak English or gtfo. Can't have them crashing their space ship and not be able to call for help.

 

[Koya]

Has to be an alien built structure IMO. Maybe something to deter meteors or fat chicks?

All chicks weigh the same in space.

 

[tommyboy]

Has to be an alien built structure IMO. Maybe something to deter meteors or fat chicks?

All chicks weigh the same in space.

Yeah, but still...

 

[NCCommish]

It's not an alien structure. It would have to be bigger than Jupiter and the orbit makes no sense. Interesting find though.

That's the entire point of the dyson sphere, though. Especially if it's a partial.

An artificial structure that close to the star would.absorb and radiate heat. It would give off its own infrared signature, it doesn't. It isn't a structure or a bunch of structures or a Dyson sphere.

 

[MikeIke]

It's not an alien structure. It would have to be bigger than Jupiter and the orbit makes no sense. Interesting find though.

It's not necessarily one object, though. Could be thousands of mirrors /solar collectors each a few kilometers across. I agree, that's most likely not what it is. But it's fun to speculate and it will be interesting to see if they are able to figure out what actually is causing such unusual dips in the solar output.

I find it fascinating that not only are we humans able to discover anomalies like this but actually go study them and maybe get some answers. We live in an exciting time.

 

[NCCommish]

It's not an alien structure. It would have to be bigger than Jupiter and the orbit makes no sense. Interesting find though.

It's not necessarily one object, though. Could be thousands of mirrors /solar collectors each a few kilometers across. I agree, that's most likely not what it is. But it's fun to speculate and it will be interesting to see if they are able to figure out what actually is causing such unusual dips in the solar output.

I find it fascinating that not only are we humans able to discover anomalies like this but actually go study them and maybe get some answers. We live in an exciting time.

Oh yeah this is a golden age for astronomy.

 

[Gianni Verscotchie]

I would think that if they were advanced enough to build a Dyson sphere, they would be able to detect the radio waves we have been emitting and are already well aware of us.

 

[Sand]

It's not an alien structure. It would have to be bigger than Jupiter and the orbit makes no sense. Interesting find though.

It's not necessarily one object, though. Could be thousands of mirrors /solar collectors each a few kilometers across.I agree, that's most likely not what it is. But it's fun to speculate and it will be interesting to see if they are able to figure out what actually is causing such unusual dips in the solar output.

I find it fascinating that not only are we humans able to discover anomalies like this but actually go study them and maybe get some answers. We live in an exciting time.

Oh yeah this is a golden age for astronomy.

Just wait until James Webb goes up.

 

[NCCommish]

I would think that if they were advanced enough to build a Dyson sphere, they would be able to detect the radio waves we have been emitting and are already well aware of us.

We have been broadcasting in volume for less than a hundred years. The signals haven't gotten very far in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Gianni Verscotchie]

I would think that if they were advanced enough to build a Dyson sphere, they would be able to detect the radio waves we have been emitting and are already well aware of us.

We have been broadcasting in volume for less than a hundred years. The signals haven't gotten very far in the grand scheme of things.

Gotcha. So our radio waves are only a tenth of the way there.

Would'nt we have detected their radio signals already then? Assuming they've been broadcasting for at least 1500-2000 years

 

[cstu]

I would think that if they were advanced enough to build a Dyson sphere, they would be able to detect the radio waves we have been emitting and are already well aware of us.

We have been broadcasting in volume for less than a hundred years. The signals haven't gotten very far in the grand scheme of things.

Gotcha. So our radio waves are only a tenth of the way there.

Would'nt we have detected their radio signals already then? Assuming they've been broadcasting for at least 1500-2000 years

Two big assumptions:

- they have been broadcasting for at least 1500 years.

- they broadcast using radio waves and not some other technology we do not know about.

 

[Galileo]

I would think that if they were advanced enough to build a Dyson sphere, they would be able to detect the radio waves we have been emitting and are already well aware of us.

We have been broadcasting in volume for less than a hundred years. The signals haven't gotten very far in the grand scheme of things.

Gotcha. So our radio waves are only a tenth of the way there.

Would'nt we have detected their radio signals already then? Assuming they've been broadcasting for at least 1500-2000 years

Even with the assumption of a civilization producing some sort of signal for a long enough time to reach us, we would need to be "looking" at it to detect it. This requires being focused in the right direction AND scanning a frequency range that includes the broadcast signal. The SETI mission scans a microwave frequency range of about 1-10 GHz. This range is higher then significant lower frequency background noise from other natural sources in our galaxy. This range is also below the higher frequencies that are absorbed by water vapor and oxygen within our atmosphere. The article MikeIke linked above suggests SETI is currently focusing in on this object and searching a much broader range of frequencies.

 

[fdas2]

You're all pretty blithe about the fact we're about to be invaded and enslaved.

 

[Fariq]

You're all pretty blithe about the fact we're about to be invaded and enslaved.

We will be sex slaves to the aliens.

 

[Insein]

You're all pretty blithe about the fact we're about to be invaded and enslaved.

We will be sex slaves to the aliens.

Him do good snoo snoo

 

[Brony]

I would think that if they were advanced enough to build a Dyson sphere, they would be able to detect the radio waves we have been emitting and are already well aware of us.

We have been broadcasting in volume for less than a hundred years. The signals haven't gotten very far in the grand scheme of things.

Gotcha. So our radio waves are only a tenth of the way there.

Would'nt we have detected their radio signals already then? Assuming they've been broadcasting for at least 1500-2000 years

Radio waves do not actually go very far in space. Well, I mean, they go far, but, they also dissipate according to the inverse square law. Going twice as far and you only have 1/4th the energy.

After a short distance from our solar system, our broadcasts are pretty much indistinguishable from the background noise. There just isn't enough power in the signal to get out that far and clear. Probably the same for any of their signals coming here.

Our modern digital signals also don't "leak" as much, so, the actual window for us to be discovered by another planet is almost closed... anything farther than 10 light years away couldn't detect our signal, and 10 years ago we stopped leaking out so much signal.

then why don't we check for morse code signals from them. If these bastards aren't sending us radio waves, surely they are sending morse code. If they aren't, I don't think we're dealing with "intelligent" life.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

I think we already went through this with pulsars and quasars, I'm guessing they find a sort of a dying star doing strange things as it spurts out energy, light and various kinds of radio waves.