Search For Intelligent Aliens Near Bizarre Dimming Star Has Begun
133 replies, posted
[IMG]http://static.tumblr.com/587635b46b0284bcf0d10bc74cae5b4d/f78g8yd/rOenhzdz2/tumblr_static_3uapumzdqhc0ckc8sogsg000c.gif[/IMG][URL]http://www.space.com/30855-alien-life-search-kepler-megastructure.html[/URL][IMG]http://static.tumblr.com/587635b46b0284bcf0d10bc74cae5b4d/f78g8yd/rOenhzdz2/tumblr_static_3uapumzdqhc0ckc8sogsg000c.gif[/IMG]
[QUOTE]The search for signs of life in a mysterious star system hypothesized to potentially harbor an "alien megastructure" is now underway.[B]Astronomers have begun using the Allen Telescope Array (ATA), a system of radio dishes about 300 miles (483 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco, to hunt for [URL="http://www.space.com/30832-kepler-telescope-alien-megastructure.html"]signals coming from the vicinity of KIC 8462852[/URL], a star that lies 1,500 light-years from Earth.[/B]
NASA's Kepler space telescope found that KIC 8462852 dimmed oddly and dramatically several times over the past few years. The dimming events were far too substantial to be caused by a planet crossing the star's face, researchers say, and other possible explanations, such as an enormous dust cloud, don't add up, either. [[URL="http://www.space.com/20155-hunting-intelligent-aliens-extreme-seti.html"]13 Ways to Hunt Intelligent Alien Life[/URL]]
The leading hypothesis at the moment involves a swarm of comets that may have been sent careening toward KIC 8462852, possibly after a gravitational jostle by a passing star. But it's also possible, astronomers say, that the signal Kepler saw was caused by huge structures [URL="http://www.space.com/30849-bizarre-kepler-signal-alien-intelligence-speculation.html"]built by an alien civilization[/URL] — say, a giant assortment of orbiting solar panels.
That latter possibility, remote though it may be, has put KIC 8462852 in the crosshairs of scientists who hunt for signals that may have been generated by intelligent aliens.
"We are looking at it with the Allen Telescope Array," said Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI ([URL="http://www.space.com/search-for-life/"]Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence[/URL]) Institute in Mountain View, California.
"No problem with that; I think we ought to, for sure," Shostak told Space.com.[B] But, he added, people "should perhaps moderate their enthusiasm with the lessons of history.[/B]"
"So history suggests we're going to find an explanation for this that doesn't involve Klingons, if you will," Shostak said of the KIC 8462852 mystery.
[B]But until such an explanation is found, the intelligent-aliens hypothesis will still be on the table, even if the ATA and other instruments like it come up empty. The lack of a detectable signal, after all, does not establish that KIC 8462852 is a lifeless system.[/B]
[B]The star may support lifeforms that do not emit signals we can pick up, for example. Or it may once have hosted a civilization that has since gone extinct, leaving the strange megastructure as a sort of monument.[/B]
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It's probably a really big asteroid belt, remains of planet(s) or both.
But :alien: I want to believe :alien:.
I'm going to remain optimistic about it being aliens.
Sure, it probably isn't, but can you imagine how groundbreaking of a finding this would be if it were? Yeah, I want to believe.
Can't wait to see what they'll find after a few weeks to months.
Imagine actually finding aliens.
Imagine being able to use their technology to actually get off this rock and deal with our problems.
Imagine becoming starlord and exploring the galaxy millions of lightyears away from home...
I WANT TO BELIEVE
Partially constructed Dyson sphere pls
It's going to be nothing but several years of wasted time and money pouring over data that's identical to cosmic background radiation.
[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;48938398]It's going to be nothing but several years of wasted time and money pouring over data that's identical to cosmic background radiation.[/QUOTE]
I mean its not like this radio telescope array wouldnt still be running if they were investigating something else, radio astronomy is all about investigating things, this isnt much different.
Even if in the past things like this havent been something amazing, that isnt a good reason to just not investigate this.
[QUOTE=mugofdoom;48938292]I'm going to remain optimistic about it being aliens.
Sure, it probably isn't, but can you imagine how groundbreaking of a finding this would be if it were? Yeah, I want to believe.[/QUOTE]
what if they're already on their way here
[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;48938398]It's going to be nothing but several years of wasted time and money pouring over data that's identical to cosmic background radiation.[/QUOTE]
This is how science is done tho, most of the time it leads to "nothing" but you need to pour over data to map out patterns and find anomalies so eventually with enough "nothing" you will get something.
[editline]19th October 2015[/editline]
And it's not like a lot of money is being "wasted" either :v:
[QUOTE=Ruski v2.0;48938370]Imagine actually finding aliens.
Imagine being able to use their technology to actually get off this rock and deal with our problems.
Imagine becoming starlord and exploring the galaxy millions of lightyears away from home...
I WANT TO BELIEVE[/QUOTE]
Enslave them, make them make our sandwiches
[QUOTE=proch;48938551]Enslave them, make them make our sandwiches[/QUOTE]
It'd probably be the other way around though :c
[QUOTE=Ruski v2.0;48938370]Imagine actually finding aliens.
Imagine being able to use their technology to actually get off this rock and deal with our problems.
Imagine becoming starlord and exploring the galaxy millions of lightyears away from home...
I WANT TO BELIEVE[/QUOTE]
Imagine all the new memes we'd get from a totally new species.
The new meme influx would crash the Earth's rare meme market though
[QUOTE=Fish Muffin;48938392]Partially constructed Dyson sphere pls[/QUOTE]
1500 light years away, so it's probably complete by now.
aliens r gay
[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;48938398]It's going to be nothing but several years of wasted time and money pouring over data that's identical to cosmic background radiation.[/QUOTE]
so you're a glass is completely empty kinda person right
I feel like the astronomer who was first interviewed should know better than to introduce aliens into the conversation. Then again maybe he wanted the attention or genuinely believes it.
Didn't the Wow! Signal come from a constellation (They think) that wasn't far from the one this star is located in?
we probably would have found aliens by now if the us military didn't practically wipe their ass with billion dollar bills from their huge budget
[QUOTE=Trixil;48939189]we probably would have found aliens by now if the us military didn't practically wipe their ass with billion dollar bills from their huge budget[/QUOTE]
Well, we [I]do[/I] need a big military in case they decide to blow us up!
[QUOTE=BananaFoam;48939224]Well, we [I]do[/I] need a big military in case they decide to blow us up![/QUOTE]
This is very true, I mean how are we gonna survive if we don't have tanks and boats and machine guns when the intellectually superior alien race with the technology to travel between stars decide they want to fight us.
[editline]20th October 2015[/editline]
Did I say fight? I meant exterminate .
[QUOTE=MrJazzy;48939376]Did I say fight? I meant exterminate.[/QUOTE]maybe we'll be lucky and they're of the sort that just enjoys a good fight now and then - or all the time
[QUOTE=MrJazzy;48939376]This is very true, I mean how are we gonna survive if we don't have tanks and boats and machine guns when the intellectually superior alien race with the technology to travel between stars decide they want to fight us.
[editline]20th October 2015[/editline]
Did I say fight? I meant exterminate .[/QUOTE]
Precisely why we should invest more into record players and music.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSbigjiKLoU[/media]
[QUOTE=Joazzz;48939414]maybe we'll be lucky and they're of the sort that just enjoys a good fight now and then - or all the time[/QUOTE]
Maybe we'll be less lucky and they'll keep us as pets :v:
[editline]20th October 2015[/editline]
Maybe they already do.. I mean... do cattle know they're basically enslaved by the humans?
It sure would be exciting to find another planet with life that was already past a 2-billion-year-long stage of single-cell evolution like life on Earth had to get through
[QUOTE=DChapsfield;48939465]It sure would be exciting to find another planet with life that was already past a 2-billion-year-long state of single-cell evolution like life on Earth had to get through[/QUOTE]
It would be interesting to find life at all, tbh. Imagine if life on earth actually comes from space originally and we happen to find life in the solar system that is related to life on earth. Nobody knows the true origin of life.
[QUOTE=MrJazzy;48939459]Maybe we'll be less lucky and they'll keep us as pets :v:
[editline]20th October 2015[/editline]
Maybe they already do.. I mean... do cattle know they're basically enslaved by the humans?[/QUOTE]
It'd probably still be better than using women as axolotl tanks and altering the men to be worker drones.
[QUOTE=MrJazzy;48939474]It would be interesting to find life at all, tbh. Imagine if life on earth actually comes from space originally and we happen to find life in the solar system that is related to life on earth. Nobody knows the true origin of life.[/QUOTE]
i thought it was widely believed that meteorite impacts early in the Earth's development were what introduced the necessary elements for the formation of living organisms?
[QUOTE=ironman17;48939501]It'd probably still be better than using women as axolotl tanks and altering the men to be worker drones.[/QUOTE]
Oh yeah, true enough, I didn't think hard enough to distinguish pets from cattle.
[editline]20th October 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=DChapsfield;48939513]i thought it was widely believed that meteorite impacts early in the Earth's development were what introduced the necessary elements for the formation of living organisms?[/QUOTE]
Yeah but nobody has a clear understanding of why inanimate matter came alive and how that process took place.
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