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[HTupolev]

If exocomet fragments are the most consistent explanation then this thread wouldn't exist and SETI would not have pointed it's radio arrays at the star.

Online discussions of phenomena veer toward ETI because they're a topic that's exciting on the surface.

SETI researchers pointed arrays at the star because the phenomenon seems likely enough to involve ETI that SETI researchers felt it was worth their time. Which isn't really the same thing as ETI being the most likely explanation.

 

[TwoDurans]

We should leave it alone.

I personally believe that the aliens in ID4 were going to broadcast a message of piece, but we sent up a helicopter that told them to fuck off in light form. They had no choice but to respond.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

Anyone think it could be Tien's tri-beam?

 

[Red]

Anyone think it could be Tien's tri-beam?

No, Tien would not have the power level to darken 2% of a star let alone 22%.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Would debris from an impact like that stay in a huge cluster like that and steadily stay in orbit?
Or wait.. a hot jupiter... what would that sort of impact cause? Lots of debris? Just a big cloud?

It would be an opaque gas cloud, I imagine, but this is just me speculating with no idea whether such an impact would even behave that way.

 

[StayDead]

We should put up a wall to prevent those dirty benefit scrounging allens from getting onto earth.

 

[Quazar]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bh4z__KeUCQ&feature=youtu.be

Pretty cool video SETI posted

 

[Ether_Snake]

Maybe this thing is hiding a planet on the other side of it, and blocks all radio signals or other information we could gather from that planet? A big shield to keep themselves hidden to some extent, which doesn't prevent us from thinking there might be aliens, but preventing us from collecting any more info than that.

Than again, I believe the triangle is known to be fairly flat, in which case at a certain point whatever is behind it could possibly be seen.

 

[Badlucktroll]

Aliens or not, whatever is happening around KIC 8462852 is totally unprecedented. They have never seen anything like it. THAT alone makes it very exciting. Also, maybe SETI didn't pick anything up, because the triangle or the planet or whatever is out of range (behind the star or whatever) right now?

 

[Wolfe]

Also, maybe SETI didn't pick anything up, because the triangle or the planet or whatever is out of range (behind the star or whatever) right now?

It's not likely that SETI would have picked up anything anyway unless they happened to be beaming signals towards us and also specifically from 1400 years ago.

@Joey, stick with dick tattoos dude.

 

[Badlucktroll]

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/alien-star-comet-fragments/

Sorry to disappoint.

 

[Log4Girlz]

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/alien-star-comet-fragments/

Sorry to disappoint.

That's what they want you to believe

 

[ValkyrUser]

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/alien-star-comet-fragments/

Sorry to disappoint.

Expected but darn it nonetheless.

 

[Stinkles]

That's what they want you to believe

Which would actually make sense. If we built a Dyson catchment system and wanted to keep it on the DL we'd have it imitate a natural phenomenon.

 

[captjohnboyd]

Hey! He said he still won't discount the Dyspon Sphere theory

 

[ehretreue.m.h]

Well that sucks. I suppose if we met aliens or discovered life, I'd rather not be on the wrong side of rock v lasers.

 

[Badlucktroll]

Its probably something cool, but very simple, like KIC 8462852 is the star with the most comets ever discovered.

 

[Wyndstryker]

That's what they want you to believe

Yup, in reality each comet fragment is really just a patrol ship circling the star.

 

[rjinaz]

So if I read that right, if it dims again, we can get excited.

 

[FyreWulff]

Its probably something cool, but very simple, like KIC 8462852 is the star with the most comets ever discovered.

More ice clouds spewing from it than an Undertaker entrance

 

[low-G]

Which would actually make sense. If we built a Dyson catchment system and wanted to keep it on the DL we'd have it imitate a natural phenomenon.

How about put a dyson sphere around a very energetic star, but have the outside appear like a less powerful star. It could be ANY of these stars!

 

[Squirrel Killer]

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/alien-star-comet-fragments/

Sorry to disappoint.

You expect me to believe a "professor" from some two bit 3-8 university?

 

[Joel Was Right]

Comets weren't originally considered?

 

[opticalmace]

Comets weren't originally considered?

They were -- it's in the op.

 

[jiggle]

Mounting disappointments

 

[Ovid]

I refuse to believe this.

 

[Alexlf]

Woah Woah Woah people, read the article. He says that comets are not satisfactory for describing all the effects based on our current knowledge. In no way does he rule out alien super structures. He's just saying comets are more likely, even with the strange effects, and he's right.

Either way there's (potentially) some cool new physics to discover.

 

[graffix13]

Saw this thread had been bumped, got excited....and then severly disappointed.

I still believe goddammit!

 

[OléGunner]

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/alien-star-comet-fragments/

Sorry to disappoint.

Welp the dream of Gafs alien booty sex is dead.

Seriously though, this is just a proposed

Spoiler

(though probable)

explanation. Believe!

 

[Abstruse Moose]

Woah Woah Woah people, read the article. He says that comets are not satisfactory for describing all the effects based on our current knowledge. In no way does he rule out alien super structures. He's just saying comets are more likely, even with the strange effects, and he's right.

Either way there's (potentially) some cool new physics to discover.

This.

 

[RustyNails]

Lame bump.

I want to believe.

 

[Quazar]

Lame bump.

I want to believe.

Just one theory. They will still examine other possibilities for sure.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

So it was just a weather comet eh?

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/alien-star-comet-fragments/

Sorry to disappoint.

 

[Jason Frost]

So, now there is a mouse on Mars?

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/26/alien-and-ufo-hunters-spot-mouse-on-mars_n_8653392.html

 

[foxuzamaki]

Lame bump.

I want to believe.

.

 

[BizzyBum]

We're still going to point a giant ass telescope at this and find out for sure, right?

 

[Slayer-33]

So, now there is a mouse on Mars?

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/26/alien-and-ufo-hunters-spot-mouse-on-mars_n_8653392.html

WELP, that's that.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

Well, there goes my Thanksgiving.

 

[Kreuzader]

So, KIC 8462852 is even weirder than Kepler saw:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1601.03256

From the early 1890s to the late 1980s, KIC 8462852 has faded by 0.193+-0.030 mag. This century-long dimming is completely unprecedented for any F-type main sequence star. So the Harvard light curve provides the first confirmation (past the several dips seen in the Kepler light curve alone) that KIC 8462852 has anything unusual going on.

[...]

Within the context of dust-occultation models, the century-long dimming trend requires 10^4 to 10^7 times as much dust as for the one deepest Kepler dip. Within the context of the comet-family idea, the century-long dimming trend requires an estimated 648,000 giant comets (each with 200 km diameter) all orchestrated to pass in front of the star within the last century.

 

[FlyinJ]

Uh oh. Sounds to me like someone is sucking that sun into a planet sized super weapon.

 

[G.ZZZ]

So, KIC 8462852 is even weirder than Kepler saw:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1601.03256

Magnitudo decreasing over a century plus regular day dipping? Dyson sphere in construction confirmed holy shit.

 

[Kreuzader]

More commentary:

http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=34837

If Schaefer’s work holds up, the cometary hypothesis to explain KIC 8462852 is deeply compromised. We seem to be looking at the author calls “an ongoing process with continuous effects” around the star.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

Uh oh. Sounds to me like someone is sucking that sun into a planet sized super weapon.

How do we blow it up? There's always a way to do that.

 

[params7]

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/alien-star-comet-fragments/

Sorry to disappoint.

Not like this. :{ I will see aliens in my lifetime.

 

[Kreuzader]

Not like this. :{ I will see aliens in my lifetime.

Look upthread - the cometary hypothesis can't readily explain the new long-term dimming.

 

[andycapps]

Magnitudo decreasing over a century plus regular day dipping? Dyson sphere in construction confirmed holy shit.

If something out there is capable of building a Dyson Sphere we should leave them the fuck alone.

 

[Ovid]

So, KIC 8462852 is even weirder than Kepler saw:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1601.03256

Great news...wait.

 

[HStallion]

Even if this isnt an alien civilization, and its most likely not, this is still an unprecedented phenomenon. Though damn... parts of me do want it to be a super civilization building a Dyson sphere in real time.

Actually this whole idea of Earth watching a species light years away slowly building a megastructure but not seeing anything in real detail and only being able to speculate about what is going on would make a great science fiction story.

Shit... I need to start writing this now! Dont steal my idea!

 

[rjinaz]

If something out there is capable of building a Dyson Sphere we should leave them the fuck alone.

But what if it's actually a super weapon pointed directly at Earth?

somebody get the computer viruses ready for god's sake!

 

[gutshot]

So it's either aliens or some astronomical phenomenon we have never observed before. Either way, it's pretty cool.