Star KIC 8462852 was detected in 2015 as presenting a peculiar dimming process, an event or action that somehow blocked up to 20 percent of the light being emitted from the distant star. As Popular Science explained, the amount of light being blocked was far too much to be an occlusion caused by the transit of an exoplanet. And since the dimming phenomenon was first detected by astronomer Tabetha Boyajian, there have been several hypotheses suggested — from swarms of comets to an artificial “alien megastructure” built by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization — as to what might be the cause of the bizarre effect.

But Jason Wright was first to sound the alarm that something was again occurring at Tabby’s Star — and referred to it as “dipping” — and astronomers needed to focus on the faraway stellar mass to gather data.

ALERT:@tsboyajian‘s star is dipping

This is not a drill.

Astro tweeps on telescopes in the next 48 hours: spectra please!

— Jason Wright (@Astro_Wright) May 19, 2017

Boyajian wasn’t too far behind, adding a “call to action” Twitter post with a retweet of Wright’s post.

CALL TO ACTION!! https://t.co/ll69iRowqi

— Tabetha Boyajian (@tsboyajian) May 19, 2017

The intent, of course, is for astronomers and scientists to direct as many detection instruments toward KIC 8462852 as possible so as to perhaps gather enough data to discover what might be producing the dimming, or “dipping,” effect around the star. According to Wright, the star had dimmed as much as two percent as of Friday (May 19) morning (per the Daily Mail).

Wright’s initial analysis was corroborated Saturday (May 20) by Fairborn Observatory in Arizona, which confirmed that Tabby’s Star had dimmed by three percent. To indicate just how unusual the dimming effect actually is, Popular Science offered the comparison of the planet Jupiter blocking the star, an action that would see the occlusion of only one percent of the star’s light, if that.

Abstract of a Dyson sphere, which is a possible explanation of for the ‘alien megastructure’ hypothesis presented as the cause for the dimming effect of Tabby’s Star. [Image by Alexander Mozymov/Shutterstock]

The most popular explanation for the star’s dimming has been the hypothesis that an “alien megastructure” has been constructed, or is being constructed, around Tabby’s Star. It has been posited that something on the order of a Dyson sphere, a construct built to surround a star so as to gather all available energy from the star as a resource, might be the answer to the strange dimming process.

It has been hypothesized that the dimming star KIC 8462852 might be caused by an alien megastructure, like a Dyson sphere. [Image by vrx/Shutterstock]

But popular consensus is not science and scientists, although just as excited as the next individual to entertain the possibility of the existence of an alien civilization, have been hard-pressed to come up with an answer to the dimming of Tabby’s Star. Back in September, the Inquisitr reported that scientists Valeri Makarov, of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., and Alexey Goldin, of Teza Technologies in Chicago, revealed their idea that the dimming effect of KIC 8462852 is not an “alien megastructure” but the result of an occluding cloud of space junk that has accumulated between the star and the observers on Earth. The hypothesis of a swarm of comets inside the system of Tabby’s Star producing the dip in light emission was simply transplanted into the idea that there was a swarm of “interstellar comets” causing the effect.

The list of observatories that have turned their telescopes toward KIC 8462852 includes Swift, Keck, Fairborn, and Lick.

Although the event presents an opportunity for scientists to study the star as it appears to be actually dimming (which it has noticeably done at over an extended period of time), Wright admitted, “I don’t think we’re going to solve the puzzle this weekend.” However, the astronomer was hopeful that the collected data from the weekend’s observations could eventually lead to the solution.

[Featured Image by vrx/Shutterstock]

Astronomy professor Zaza Osmanov of the Free University of Tbilisi published a paper last year, according to the Daily Mail, wherein he posited that alien megastructures such as the one hypothesized to exist around the mysterious star KIC 8462852, or Tabby’s Star, might not be constructed in spherical forms (Dyson spheres) but are more likely to exist as Dyson rings. And they would be built around pulsars, not stars.

The movement, or rotation, of the ring with relation to the host star could account for the odd dimming and brightening exhibited by the star over the years, Osmanov argued. And since such structures would likely be built out to roughly an astronomical unit (AU, the distance from the Sun to the Earth) from the host object if the object were a star, it would place the ring in the star’s habitable zone. Osmanov estimated that pulsars would host habitable zones at roughly 0.1 AU.

In a follow-up paper, Prof. Osmanov now suggests that the alien megastructure rings should be easily spotted with the use of modern technology. And they should be detectable by their infrared signatures. According to Phys.org, Osmanov also calculated at what distances the alien megastructures could be detected.

Astronomer Zaza Osmanov suggests that, instead of Dyson spheres around stars, advanced alien civilizations might build Dyson rings around pulsars. [Image by vrx/Shutterstock]

He believes that the number of potential candidate pulsars within the calculated distance (observable space) to be 64.

“We have argued that by monitoring the nearby zone of the solar system approximately 64 pulsars are expected to be located inside it.”

By directing astronomers’ attention to the more likely locations where an advanced alien civilization might be, the Georgian professor believes he will save scientists from looking for extraterrestrials, especially well-advanced aliens, in the wrong places.

Osmanov’s ideas have offered a possible path to the discovery of extraterrestrial life, not to mention the possibility that said aliens just might be from a super-advanced civilization. (To have the capability to build such a massive artificial structure, the alien civilization would place as a Level II civilization on the Kardashev Scale. By comparison, humanity barely registers on the scale, having not even learned as yet to harness the resources of our home world.) However, the astronomer also cautions that such an advanced civilization would have the capability of destroying mankind should they so choose to do.

An alien civilization advanced enough to build a ringworld around a star or pulsar would be at Level II on the Kardashev Scale, a metric table that has humanity barely above zero in terms of technological advancement. [Image by vrx/Shutterstock]

In other news concerning possible alien megastructures, a detected dimming of Tabby’s star has prompted a “call to action” by scientists this week to direct telescopes toward star KIC 8462852. As was reported by the Inquisitr, it is doubtful that the answer to the odd dimming mystery will occur over a weekend’s observations, but it is hoped that the data gathered by a number of telescopes from around the world might point to a solution as to why Tabby’s Star has dimmed as much as 20 percent.

Astronomer Jason Wright of Penn State University first alerted the scientific community of the most recent dip in brightness of the star after noticing that KIC 8462852 had dimmed two percent. Within 24 hours, the findings had been corroborated and the dimming was found to be three percent.

First detected in 2015 by Tabetha Boyajian, the astronomer from whom the star gets its nickname, several hypotheses have been offered — from periodic comet swarms to alien megastructures to an occluding field of comets or interstellar space junk located in interstellar space — to explain the dimming process.

[Featured Image by vrx/Shutterstock]

Tabby’s star, also called the Boyajian star, is once again exhibiting an eccentric pattern of dimming and brightening, prompting astronomers around the world to turn their telescopes towards it in the hopes of solving the mystery behind its strange behavior, as reported by Gizmodo.

Back in September 2015, a team of scientists led by Tabetha Boyajian (the star’s namesake) detected an irregularity in Tabby’s star’s brightness. Scientists presented several interesting hypotheses that could explain its behavior, including a swarm of comets, a recently-destroyed planet, and massive electromagnetic activity. But perhaps the most exotic hypothesis that’s been forwarded is the possibility that the star’s dimming was caused by an “alien megastructure,” or a Dyson sphere. With the amount of alleged UFO sightings that have been reported since the Roswell incident, the “alien megastructure” theory has sparked interest from UFO enthusiasts around the world.

Jason Wright, Associate Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State, broke the news on Twitter, urging amateur and professional astronomers to point their telescopes towards Tabby’s star and to provide spectra results for further analysis.

ALERT:@tsboyajian‘s star is dipping

This is not a drill.

Astro tweeps on telescopes in the next 48 hours: spectra please!

— Jason Wright (@Astro_Wright) May 19, 2017

“At about 4 a.m. this morning I got a phone call … that Fairborn [Observatory] in Arizona had confirmed that the star was three percent dimmer than it normally is,” Wright said during a live webcast yesterday at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT). “That is enough that we are absolutely confident that this is no statistical fluke. We’ve now got it confirmed at multiple observatories, I think.”

What is a “spectra” and why was Mr. Wright asking for it? Fundamentally, a spectra is a set of data acquired using multi-color photometry. Its basic function is to give specific measurements at different wavelengths, helping scientists figure out what type of material is causing the star’s light to dip.

@ajebson @NASAKepler @LCO_Global @keckobservatory @AAVSO @nexssinfo @NASA @NASAHubble @Astro_Wright @BerkeleySETI @ESO its 2% in r’ band and looks like its the start pic.twitter.com/TjJdSY2ar9

— Tabetha Boyajian (@tsboyajian) May 19, 2017

“Whatever’s causing the star to get dimmer will leave a spectral fingerprint behind,” Wright said during the webcast. “So if there is a lot of dust between us and the star … it will block more blue light than red light. If there is gas in that dust, that gas should absorb very specific wavelengths and we should be able to see that. And so, we’ve been eager to see one of these changes in one of these dips of the star so we can take some spectra.”

It’s difficult to predict when and how long a dimming event would occur, which is why astronomers make it a point to schedule professional-grade telescope observations weeks or months in advance.

“We need to have a network of people around the world that are ready to jump on [and observe it],” Wright said. “Fortunately, Tabby’s star is not too faint and so there are a lot of observers and telescopes … that have graciously agreed to take some time out of their science to grab a spectrum for us [tonight].”

Astronomers are still baffled by Tabby star’s behavior. As established, no star has been detected to exhibit such behavior. Even the most conservative assumptions seem unlikely on account of current technologies and our limited undertanding of the universe. As previously reported by The Atlantic, the star’s brightness has dipped by more than 20 percent. To get an idea of how significant that is, consider the fact that Jupiter blocking the sun could cause it to dip by only two percent. Picturing a structure massive enough to cause a dimming behavior of such scale stretches the limits of the imagination, which is why it’s not so surprising to see claims that it was caused by an alien megastructure. As such, UFO hunters are having a field day with this.

Annnd here’s @marinakoren on the *new* dimming of the ‘alien megastructure’ star & what we might learn from it https://t.co/H5yhcN0noo

— Ross Andersen (@andersen) May 19, 2017

Of course, the chances that we’re looking at a construction project being undertaken by aliens from outer space — a UFO in space, so to speak — are pretty slim given the limited data our scientists have at this point. Ironically, it’s the explanation that makes the most sense. Even scientists, as beholden as they are to the scientific method, are excited about the possibility that they are out there.

@redplanet00 @TEDTalks as for theories, all we have are a bunch of bad ideas. Aliens are def one of them!

— Tabetha Boyajian (@tsboyajian) November 22, 2016

[Featured Image by Marc Ward/Shutterstock]