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[Xe4]

It's mentioned somewhere that KIC is a few hundred million years old, which doesn't strike me as particularly old. But more importantly the way we determine the age of stars may not be 100% certain. We need a physicist to clarify this part.

Edit: this is the relevant part:

It's really, really difficult to determine the age of a star. It's only really possible if they're really old or really young (in this case), due to the cycle a star goes through, and even then we're talking only accurate to within a few million years.

Other than that, we can tell the range of ages a star could be, as red dwarfs last longer and blue giants much shorter, we can our a minimum and maximum on its age.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

It's really, really difficult to determine the age of a star. It's only really possible if they're really old or really young (in this case), due to the cycle a star goes through, and even then we're talking only accurate to within a few million years.

Other than that, we can tell the range of ages a star could be, as red dwarfs last longer and blue giants much shorter, we can our a minimum and maximum on its age.

How is it done?
Do we look at the star's emission spectrum to determine its composition and according to the distribution of light and heavier elements/isotopes determine the age?
What are the possible sources of error when trying to determine a star's age?

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

Wait didn't they say tabbys star had been dimming for over 100 years already? How does that explain that?

Assuming the 100 year data is accurate (the older measurements could very well be quite noisy) and that it's being interpreted correctly (it's not always a simple matter to calibrate different measurements from different instruments made during very different times, especially when the older ones were probably less accurate and not documented as well) a decrease in brightness over 100 years could still potentially be due to a (slower/further away) transit of debris.

I think that's what is meant when the idea of inner and outer disks is brought up, i.e. that they would have different rates of rotation. At the very least (if I understand correctly) that would account for the various dimmings observed that have different periods as well as different changes in flux.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

I kind of assumed it would be something like this, but for some reason the simple accretion disk had not entered my mind.

This thread is therefore a really good example of being "blinded by narrative" or wanting something (confirmation bias) so that you forget about stuff you actually know about.

 

[Koren]

Assuming the 100 year data is accurate (the older measurements could very well be quite noisy) and that it's being interpreted correctly (it's not always a simple matter to calibrate different measurements from different instruments made during very different times, especially when the older ones were probably less accurate and not documented as well) a decrease in brightness over 100 years could still potentially be due to a (slower/further away) transit of debris.

Can't a "long"-time dimming be simply a consequence of Earth slowly coming closer to the planeary plane of this system (or something moving inbetween)? You don't even need any rotation effect.

I'd say only irregular/periodical variations may be interesting...

 

[fallout]

How is it done?
Do we look at the star's emission spectrum to determine its composition and according to the distribution of light and heavier elements/isotopes determine the age?
What are the possible sources of error when trying to determine a star's age?

It's surprisingly difficult. Using spectral analysis and brightness measurements, we can learn about a star's luminosity, temperature and composition. We can also take this data and plot it on an HR diagram. This can tell us lots of information about the star and how it fits into the galactic population of stars, but not its age.

That said, it is possible to tell the age of stars by looking at ones in a cluster. Rather than try to summarize, there's a good article on how it works here:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-scientists-determi/

In recent years, we've also used the Kepler telescope to judge the age of individual stars by looking at how fast they spin:

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2011-15

 

[ced]

First round of GAIA data is out, puts it at 1276 ly away, with an error margin of 200 ly, so it's close to the original distance, or closer.

 

[commedieu]

First round of GAIA data is out, puts it at 1276 ly away, with an error margin of 200 ly, so it's close to the original distance, or closer.

So it's getting closer?

 

[Anoregon]

So it's getting closer?

 

[ced]

So it's getting closer?

No it's just confirmation of the original distance estimate of 1500 ly away. it could be as close as 1000 ly, the Gaia data as it releases will tighten down the distance.

 

[commedieu]

 

[Insane Metal]

Great reference.

 

[Stinkles]

So it's getting closer?

.

 

[sphinx]

First round of GAIA data is out, puts it at 1276 ly away, with an error margin of 200 ly, so it's close to the original distance, or closer.

this does not change the fact that we already know the reason for the light pattern. right?

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

200 ly error margin lol.

 

[SkyOdin]

this does not change the fact that we already know the reason for the light pattern. right?

To be clear, we don't know the reason for the light pattern yet. There is a theory, but it is too early to be certain. We are still at the stage that saying the answer would be premature.

 

[TemplaerDude]

To be clear, we don't know the reason for the light pattern yet. There is a theory, but it is too early to be certain. We are still at the stage that saying the answer would be premature.

It's aliens.

 

[Doomshroom]

It's aliens.

yup i did some research on my own it is aliens. Here is a chart that proves it.

 

[TemplaerDude]

yup i did some research on my own it is aliens. Here is a chart that proves it.

Boom, definitive.

Seal this shit up, send our greetings and lets start making alien babies.

 

[Unai]

yup i did some research on my own it is aliens. Here is a chart that proves it.

You should ask for a job at Polygon!

 

[ced]

200 ly error margin lol.

Yeah it's still wait for more data in '17, but it did falsify a few theories.

No it's still not aliens lol

 

[Walter White Walker]

Keep hope alive!

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alien-megastructure-star-mystery/

Simon and Montet looked at Kepler’s observations and noticed that beyond the shifts in brightness, the star “faded slowly and steadily” over a four-year period. The main questions rest in why the star seems to fade in and out – do huge clusters of comets orbit around the star, for instance? Or is it a flickering sign of an extraterrestrial civilization?

“This star was already completely unique because of its sporadic dimming episodes. But now we see that it has other features that are just as strange, both slowly dimming for almost three years and then suddenly getting fainter much more rapidly,” Simon said.

“This is an oddball, a real oddball,” physicist and CBS News science contributor Michio Kaku told CBS News last year. “Kepler for years has been giving us a catalog of over 1,000 extra-solar planets and this is the first oddball out of hundreds of thousands of stars scanned. This is the first one that does not fit the usual scenario.”

 

[FTF]

Keep hope alive!

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alien-megastructure-star-mystery/

 

[HellBlazer]

Keep hope alive!

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alien-megastructure-star-mystery/

Hmm, is there something new in this...? It seems to just talk about the study by Montet and Simon that made the rounds back in August?

 

[Ovid]

Keep hope alive!

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alien-megastructure-star-mystery/

Hope was never lost.

The update on September 2nd was just a theory. As of that publishing, the theory hasn't been peer reviewed yet.

 

[allday247]

Well it looks like more funding is being pushed to listen for extra terrestrial life

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37777731

Keeping that hope alive!

 

[PantherLotus]

(not gonna lie that was a disappointing bump)

 

[Timedog]

These scientists flip-flopped again, changing year amounts at their leisure. Sad!

 

[LookAtMeGo]

At this point, any bump thats isnt "Aliens Confirmed" is disappointing.

 

[maquiladora]

"We've deployed a fantastic new SETI instrument that connects to that telescope, that can look at many gigahertz of bandwidth simultaneously and many, many billions of different radio channels all at the same time so we can explore the radio spectrum very, very quickly," Siemion added.

The observations will take place for 8 hours per night for three nights over the next two months, with the first observations set to take place Wednesday (Oct. 26), project team members said.

http://www.space.com/34505-alien-megastructure-star-seti-search.html

 

[HStallion]

Not to self promote my own thread but I thought people interseted in what is going on with this star should know we should be able to hopefully get a much better look and clearer view of whats going on now that the James Webb telescope has been finished after 2 decades.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1308815#post223215179

It won't launch until two years of testing are done, so not till 2018 but I'm hopeful that if we don't figure out what's going on with this star before then, that we could use the telescope to focus on this star and see what the hell is actually going on.

 

[Insane Metal]

Not to self promote my own thread but I thought people interseted in what is going on with this star should know we should be able to hopefully get a much better look and clearer view of whats going on now that the James Webb telescope has been finished after 2 decades.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1308815#post223215179

It won't launch until two years of testing are done, so not till 2018 but I'm hopeful that if we don't figure out what's going on with this star before then, that we could use the telescope to focus on this star and see what the hell is actually going on.

OMG thank you, man!

This is incredible news.

 

[Stinkles]

These so called "scientists" flip-flopped again, changing year amounts at their leisure. Sad!

Ftfy

 

[Sleight of Jam]

Welp. Dream over guys.

The researchers have been studying how the star's large and small dips in brightness relate to each other, and when they applied a number of mathematical models to the data, they came up with patterns that also appear in what's known as avalanche statistics.

Avalanche statistics have turned up in all kinds of natural phenomena, including solar flares, gamma-ray bursts, and neural activity in the brain, and while the maths is pretty complicated, in basic terms, it reveals patterns where small dips in the data occurring between the larger dips ultimately equate to even larger dips.

Avalanche statistics appear to be associated with things going through certain phase transitions - most commonly between solid, liquid, and gaseous states of matter, and in rare cases, plasma.

Phase transitions are thought to be associated with solar activity such as solar flares and solar storms, so it could be that KIC 8462852's internal materials are transitioning, and the result is erratic outbursts that block its light.

More at the link:
http://www.sciencealert.com/scienti...eirdness-that-is-the-alien-megastructure-star

 

[Icefire1424]

I'm not ashamed to admit I really don't understand what any of that meant. But it sounds cool, nonetheless.

 

[Grenchel]

whose to say the aliens aren't made out of gas?

 

[Lovely Salsa]

There are no "super" civilizations out there

If we want to look for aliens, we should think about how we'd find ourselves in this huge universe

 

[jchap]

Let the conspiracy theories begin. They made contact!

 

[captjohnboyd]

ugh. bummer. At least there's still hope for the EM drive

 

[HStallion]

Well this just confirms species don't become galaxy spanning super civilizations like we expect but instead leave behind their physical forms and transcend to a new reality of being.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

While we're all dealing with the disappointment of a Dyson sphere-less universe (so far), let's also try and be amazed that we solved a baffling astronomical mystery 1,500 light years away with about a year's worth of serious attention.

 

[Sapiens]

Can I deny this?

 

[Stasis]

Dyson Alpha/Beta.

Has anyone posted this yet? I'm surely not the first. Too lazy to search/check on mobile atm.

Edit: nm! Two posts up, kinda.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

Can I deny this?

I am

 

[TimeEffect]

While we're all dealing with the disappointment of a Dyson sphere-less universe (so far), let's also try and be amazed that we solved a baffling astronomical mystery 1,500 light years away with about a year's worth of serious attention.

I doubt it was some earth shattering mystery. That's just shitty journalism trying to stir up the pot with alien talk.

This was always the likely outcome, and it was probably never that big of a deal. That's not to say it's not amazing that scientists have the technology and smarts

 

[Reverend Funk]

Huh cosmic swamp gas

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

There are no "super" civilizations out there

If we want to look for aliens, we should think about how we'd find ourselves in this huge universe

Well that's a bold claim.

 

[HStallion]

Like feathers on dinosaurs most will not believe this turn of events.

 

[Ovid]

Thanks for the update but the article didn't mention anything about conclusive evidence with regards to Tabby's Star. It appears that scientists are providing yet another hypothesis (this time using mathematical modeling) that so far seems to fit with what we're observing. A conclusive solution has not been provided.


The dream lives.

 

[Grimm Fandango]

Welp. Dream over guys.

More at the link:
http://www.sciencealert.com/scienti...eirdness-that-is-the-alien-megastructure-star

Pretty much what I expected.

We still have yet to find even the most simple of alien life. The Dyson stuff was reaching so hard it baffled me.