That's No Planet...Or Is It? Bizarre Star Causes Speculation For Astronomers

It appears that finding water on Mars isn’t the only headline that’s out of this world today.

In September, a group of astronomers released a report to a Scientific Journal discussing the properties of the star “Kepler 8462852.” What they found was unlike any other star ever to be seen in the known universe, as its luminosity randomly dimmed by 20% for days to weeks at a time. This article sparked many ideas on how it does this, and one specific idea seems idiotic, but ironically logical at the same time.

Some have believed, such as Jason Wright, an astronomer at Penn State, that a swarm of, “Alien Megastructures” blocks the star’s light from coming to Earth. The explanation is that if there are other hyperintelligent beings in the cosmos, then they understand the importance of the energy given off by a star, and by building these structures, known as “Dyson Spheres,” they are able to achieve more energy from them. For more information, look up “Dyson Spheres.”

While nothing was discussed about extraterrestrial involvement in the September report, it was found that the data wasn’t corrupted and all instruments were working perfectly. While this hypothesis can explain the dimming of the star at random and in mass quantities, don’t get your hopes up, for it still contains plenty of holes.

Astronomers know that if a species were to use that much energy, they would be producing major amounts of waste heat, which we would have picked up on through infrared sensors. Still, the star strangely doesn't emit extra infrared radiation.

Scientists are still able to come up with theories though.

Asteroid collisions releasing large clouds of dust have the ability to dim the light we see, but it would also emit infrared radiation, and as said before, no infrared can be found.

Another explanation is that shattered comets surround the star, cooling it at random. This is feasible seeing how a red dwarf companion star is not too far away; it could theoretically have brought along comets which could have broken up after close encounters with the star.

While the entire idea of alien structures is still outlandish, with the aforementioned Jason Wright even calling it “extremely unlikely,” many radio telescopes have now begun a deeper search into this star. They are investigating if they can detect evidence of comet debris and study the dips in lumosity and the orbit of the red dwarf. It will take a while, seeing how the star is still very unknown, but it will possibly be a surprising find.

The SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute has also joined in the search, using a radio telescope to look for more evidence proving the existence of alien life and, possibly, find a signal.

While the most likely explanation is comets, the question is still up for debate. Maybe we will find a new natural phenomenon that appears rarely in the Universe. Maybe it truly is aliens, and maybe they have technology far superior to ours. Maybe, this weird star is just that: weird.

Whatever the outcome is, “Kepler 8462852” is a fascinating scientific find in the world of Astronomy, and may help us learn more about the laws of the natural universe in future time.