Unusual star has astronomers imagining an 'alien' scenarioWNYT.com
By: WNYT Staff Created: 10/15/2015 6:03 PM
SCHENECTADY - Astronomers don't normally use the word “aliens” every day when it comes to discoveries.
However, their recent observation of a distant star has some of them looking at the possibility that maybe, just maybe an alien civilization exists.
To be clear, astronomers say this is not proof that aliens exist. However, they say after their observation of this distant star, the possibility cannot be ignored.
NASA’s Kepler telescope was designed to capture distant planets orbiting stars far, far away. But astronomers say they recently discovered that it might have brought back more than just empty worlds.
“I can't stand here and tell you that yes, we've just discovered aliens today, but it's definitely a possibility that is seriously being looked into,” noted Dr. Valerie Rapson, an astronomer with the Dudley Observatory at MiSci in Schenectady. Rapson says astronomers have been using Kepler for a long time to look at stars. One of them in particular, “KIC 8462852” got their attention.
“This star has been doing some very strange things,” she explained.
Dr. Rapson shows us how scientists study the light distant stars emit -- using a light bulb and a rubber planet. Every time a planet goes in front of the sun, the light dims. However, this should happen regularly like when our planet orbits the sun. Rapson says there are more dims and brightness than usual with KIC.
“These dimming of the star can't be explained by a planet or just a couple of planets orbiting around the star. There has to be some other explanation for this,” she theorized.
Some logical explanation might be a cloud of dust, space junk, surrounding the star. Rapson says there are several of reasonable natural possibilities. One of them is alien civilization.
“Namely that this is actually the result of an alien species who has built some device that is surrounding the star, harnessing the energy,” Rapson offered.
Researchers are now working to also try to rule that out. However, they say the idea is both crazy and exciting.
Dr. Rapson says they would love to know if aliens exist. For now, she says they have to continue their research, and when they cannot explain something naturally, they have to wonder.
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