Bad news about Tabby's Star

[AnchorSteam]

Sorry, the dimming isn't caused by an Alien Mega-structure.

I'm a little bummed about this myself, but it appears that it is either clouds of gas, or perhaps the fact that the star itself is running down and getting ready to die. 

 

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tabby-star-probably-just-dusty-and-still-not-alien-megastructure

 

 

 

[Susanc241]

Oh well, the possibility was nice while it lasted.

[bison]

 A case has been made for substantial quantities of dust in the KIC 8462853 star system. This does not prove that dust alone is a sufficient explanation for the sort of dimming that's been seen.

One can see a good deal of dust stirred up at a construction site. Does this mean that the dust must have been raised by a wind storm? No, for the possibility remains that the dust is caused by construction activity.

This problem has often been framed as a binary situation: Its either wholly dust, and so natural, or all very large solid objects of intelligent origin. It appears that we may need a more nuanced scenario, which might involve both natural and artificial elements.

[Essan]

Dust?

Or a hegemonising swarm closing in for the kill? 

[AnchorSteam]

On 9/11/2017 at 5:29 AM, Susanc241 said:

Oh well, the possibility was nice while it lasted.

Well, look at it this way; if the dying star theory is right, and it looks that way now, in the next couple of decades we will get to see what really happens... instead of guessing at it.

 

... its not like we were ever going to GO there, or anything like that. 

[Susanc241]

14 hours ago, AnchorSteam said:

Well, look at it this way; if the dying star theory is right, and it looks that way now, in the next couple of decades we will get to see what really happens... instead of guessing at it.

 

... its not like we were ever going to GO there, or anything like that. 

Unfortunately, I am old enough to maybe not be around in 20 years!   I need to know NOW!

[AnchorSteam]

11 hours ago, Susanc241 said:

Unfortunately, I am old enough to maybe not be around in 20 years!   I need to know NOW!

Try more like 2,000 years, at the rate our Space Program is going these days.

Edited September 14, 2017 by AnchorSteam

[Merc14]

New long term study says most likely dust but definitely not a Alien megastructure.  http://earthsky.org/space/kic-8462852-tabbys-star-long-term-dimming-dust

[bison]

The variable spectral extinction, characteristic of dust sized particles, was found for the slight trend of long term dimming. This does not explain the short term dips of much greater depth, up to 22 percent. It's been suggested that the dust is a sign of large scale construction, just as construction sites on Earth can be quite dusty. The deep, short dips could point to what is being constructed.  

Edited October 5, 2017 by bison
clarified text

[Merc14]

1 hour ago, bison said:

The variable spectral extinction, characteristic of dust sized particles, was found for the slight trend of long term dimming. This does not explain the short term dips of much greater depth, up to 22 percent. It's been suggested that the dust is a sign of large scale construction, just as construction sites on Earth can be quite dusty. The deep, short dips could point to what is being constructed.  

I believe the IR energy was the point of the research:

The astronomers who published the study point to a smoking gun. They say their observations – using the Spitzer and Swift space missions, as well as the Belgian AstroLAB IRIS observatory – found less dimming in the infrared light from the star than in its ultraviolet light. Their statement explained:

Any object larger than dust particles [such as the great beams and girders of a Dyson sphere] would dim all wavelengths of light equally when passing in front of Tabby’s Star.

Huan Meng at the University of Arizona, Tucson is lead author of the new study, which also has as co-author Tabetha Boyajian at Yale University. She is the astronomer for whom Tabby’s Star is named, and also made this star famous in a 2016 TEDTalk about it. The study is published in the peer-reviewed Astrophysical Journal. Meng said:

This pretty much rules out the alien megastructure theory, as that could not explain the wavelength-dependent dimming. We suspect, instead, there is a cloud of dust orbiting the star with a roughly 700-day orbital period.