Alien Megastructure? Nope, Just a Bunch of Comets Attacking Mysterious Dimming Star
Ana Verayo | | Nov 26, 2015 07:00 AM EST |
(Photo : NASA/JPL-Caltech) Alien megastructure? This illustration shows a star behind a shattered comet.
Researchers suspected an alien megastructure a few months back, however, the mysterious dimming star known as KIC 8462852 is apparently just bombarded by a horde of comets, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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With the help of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, researchers from Iowa State University obtained data and evidence from observations these comets that are currently bombarding this mysterious dimming star by a fragmented family of comets that are now resulting in large chunks of debris, blocking out the star's light.
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has monitored the star for four years where astronomers detected a dramatic dimming in two separate events, in 2011 and 2013.
According to Massimo Marengo of the Iowa State University,in this scenario, the dimming of the KIC 8462852 light curve is apparently caused by a family of comets.
Researchers searched for infrared light emissions that are present during collisions of rocky bodies surrounded by warm dust, however, they detected nothing. Since there is an absence of infrared light, it only means that there is no warm dust, making cold comets the most likely culprit of this debris source, dimming the star's light.
As for those alien megastructures, which are believed to be massive structures orbiting this alien star created by an advanced alien civilization, thousands of light years away, KIC 8462852 is not surrounded by warm dust nor these, just cold dust from cold comets.
Marengo says that the team did not specifically search for these alien megastructures as they cannot totally confirm any of it in existence around KIC 8462852 but he adds that this star has some very strange activity and it's been a very interesting phenomenon to study, that can lead to a new physical explanation or new concept.
This new study will be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Tagsmysterious dimming star, KIC 8462852, mysterious dimming star KIC 8462852, alien megastructure dimming star, KIC 8462852 alien megastructure, comets, KIC 8462852 comets dimming star, NASA, NASA kepler, NASA spitzer
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