Oct 142015
 

Almost certainly not. Still, the data from the Kepler spacecraft suggests that a Dyson swarm (a *vast* number of spacecraft, space colonies and solar power satellites surrounding a star, so numerous that they intercept a measurable fraction of the light emitted from the star) *may* surround the main sequence F3 star KIC 8462852.  This star is 1480 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.

The less interesting explanation is that the star is surrounded by a substantial cloud of comets. The problem here is that it is an old star, and shouldn’t have such a cloud; in order to have a cloud like that at this age, it would have to have been gravitationally disturbed by a passing nearby star within the last few millenia or so. Not impossible, just statistically unlikely. Sadly, thought, probably a more likely explanation than an alien megastructure.

The official paper (which, perhaps wisely, doesn’t mention the idea of aliens) is available HERE.

The Popular Science article on the subject:

Have We Detected Megastructures Built By Aliens Around A Distant Star?

 Posted by at 8:01 pm