Stargazers claim ‘alien megastructure’ mystery has FINALLY been solved
Astronomers offer new explanation for the bizarre behaviour of a 'blinking' star way out in deep space
IT'S the deep space mystery that's kept astronomers guessing for more than a year.
Now stargazers think they've finally explained a bizarre observation which led experts to claim an "alien megastructure" was orbiting a distant star.
In October last year, scientists offered a new theory to explain why a distant star called KIC 8462852, or Tabby's Star, was displaying a bizarre "blinking" behaviour which caused its light to dim periodically.
One researcher made the serious suggestion that the light was being blocked by a huge object called a Dyson Sphere - a theoretical structure which could be built around a star in order to harvest its energy.
But a team from the University of Illinois thinks this explanation is far-fetched and has claimed the strange blinking can be explained by "avalanche statistics".
The academics argued that the star was simply undergoing a process which meant it pumped out huge amounts of light at some times and smaller amounts at others as it went through a process called a "phase transition".
"Examples of such transitions are magnetic systems that are slowly driven with a magnetic field, or the slow deformation of somewhat brittle materials where there is often first little crackling that gets louder and louder until there is a big snap when the material breaks,"
What is a Dyson Sphere? How aliens could harvest power from a star
The concept of a Dyson Sphere was first dreamed up by the physicist Freeman Dyson.
He suggested it would be possible for highly advanced alien civilisations to build a structure which surrounded a star and harvested its energy.
However, this feat of engineering is way beyond humanity at this stage in our evolution and may actually be impossible.
It would require vast amounts of natural resources and could take thousands of years to build.
But if we ever managed to get one working, a Dyson Sphere would be a source of almost unlimited energy.
Sadly, we've a long way to go until we build one and scientists have suggested we would need up to one million more years of research and development until we can manage such a feat.
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The explanation will come as a disappointment to anyone who was hoping astronomers had discovered a Dyson Sphere.
Last year, Jason Wright of Penn State University said the bizarre signals around Tabby’s Star looked like a “swarm of megastructures” and suggested they were "something you would expect an alien civilisation to build".
“I can’t figure this thing out and that’s why it’s so interesting, so cool – it just doesn’t seem to make sense,”
Other scientists have claimed the behaviour of Tabby's Star could be caused by a swarm of orbiting comets which periodically block out its light.
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