It could be a Dyson Sphere or some fantastic alien superstructure, but whatever it is seems to be "eating-up" an innocuous star named KIC 8462852, also known as Tabby's Star, in our Milky Way.

The unnatural and unreal behavior of the light being emitted by this star can't be explained by astronomers. It's so baffling some scientists have said it could only be the result of some incredible alien technology harvesting the nuclear energy from Tabby's Star.

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Astronomers say Tabby's Star continues to exhibit very strange behavior. The star's flickering and dimming can't be explained by any known astronomical phenomena.

This star appeared to have two small dips in 2009. There was a large dip lasting almost a week in 2011, and a series of multiple dips that substantially lowered the star's light in 2013.

The pattern of dips indicates that the star is orbited by a large, irregular-shaped mass. Scientists believe that whatever it is, it had to have formed recently since it would have been pulled in by the star's gravity and consumed if this object had been there much earlier.

A new, unpublished study online at arXiv reports the results of studying images of Tabby's Star taken by the Kepler Space Telescope from 2009 to 2013. The paper reveals astounding results: the star's luminosity varies, sometimes falling by an astonishing 20% over the course of the study period.

Even more bizarre, the star's total luminosity decreased by four percent overall over that time.

Study author Ben Montet of Caltech said the part that really surprised him was just how rapid and non-linear the dimming was.

"We spent a long time trying to convince ourselves this wasn't real. We just weren't able to," he said.

Bradley Schaefer of Louisiana State University in another study published earlier this year claims the light output of Tabby's Star has fallen by 19% over 100 years. His claims, however, met with widespread criticism.

Montet, however, pointed out the rate of dimming he measured in the Kepler data is about twice what Schaefer found, which "is different, but not necessarily inconsistent."

"None of the considered phenomena can alone explain the observations."

The new data at arXiv, however, seems to support the assertion the star is dimming at a very, very rapid rate.

One of the more fantastic explanations for this phenomenon is the star is flickering because of an "alien superstructure" built by a very advanced alien race. This structure might be a "Dyson Sphere," a popular and hypothetical sci-fi device that completely encloses a star to capture most or all of its energy.

This sphere consists of a system of orbiting solar power satellites that completely encompass a star and capture most or all of its energy output.

While there hasn't been proof of this hypothesis, it can't be ruled out. Another theory believes the star is blocked by the debris of a smashed planet while still another says the dimming is caused by what's known as "gravity darkening."

Experts have ruled out the Dyson Sphere theory following a study by SETI but still can't provide a convincing scientific explanation for this phenomenon.

TagsTabby's Star, dyson sphere, KIC 8462852, Kepler space telescope, Ben Montet