A bit more

Space/Science » in reply to Kardashev, type II

A bit more

RL — 10/16/2015 1:00:35 AM (archived)

First off- I certainly am not a fan of the breathless manner in which the popular press is reporting this- we have seen it before with Cold Fusion, the martian meteorite microbe, and FTL neutrinos...

To be clear, the paper that started this doesn't suggest that its evidence of ETI.... however such a paper may be forthcoming...

A more sober analysis of this data can be found here:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2015/10/14/weird_star_strange_dips_in_brightness_are_a_bit_baffling.html

I think all that can be said for certain is that there is something highly unusual going on, and it absolutely needs more investigation.

Take the amount of dimming Kepler saw- %22 in one event, and %15 in another. Kepler has a precision of %0.002, and the transit of an earth-like planet orbiting a sun-like star would be %0.0084.

The star in question is ~1.4 times the size of our sun...
For a solid object to cause a 25% dimming it would have to have about half the diameter of the star. (Assuming the object causing the dimming is indeed orbiting the star).

"Something really weird" does not translate to "Aliens did it"
...But it does mean it should be a high priority for further study.

The whole thread (27 posts)

Kardashev, type II - RL - 10/15/2015 4:30:07 PM
- Re: Kardashev, type II - RL - 9/10/2017 5:37:59 PM
- A testable theory - RL - 5/28/2017 4:10:38 PM
  - illustration - RL - 5/29/2017 6:09:52 PM
- Caught in the act this morning!!! - RL - 5/19/2017 6:15:11 PM
  - I'd better stock up on popcorn - Robert - 5/19/2017 7:42:22 PM
    - The answers to this mystery will almost certainly be interesting... - RL - 5/19/2017 7:59:29 PM
- But wait- there's more! - RL - 10/4/2016 5:16:36 PM
- And it just keeps getting weirder... - RL - 8/12/2016 10:06:18 PM
  - Kardashian, type II? - ER - 8/12/2016 11:45:50 PM
    - They specifically mention Epsilon Aurigae - RL - 8/13/2016 12:07:07 AM
- The latest... - RL - 4/30/2016 4:22:25 PM
  - Maybe what we're seeing here is evidence of just one very nasty industrial accident. - ER - 4/30/2016 6:48:58 PM
    - Stellar Fracking? - RL - 4/30/2016 11:28:25 PM
      - Or the Chernobyl system. - ER - 5/1/2016 3:38:27 AM
- And it just gets weirder... - RL - 1/16/2016 6:53:00 PM
  - starkiller base? - SDG - 1/19/2016 12:53:02 AM
    - That was jokingly suggested by one of the researchers... - RL - 1/19/2016 3:24:25 AM
- The other shoe... - RL - 10/27/2015 3:32:10 AM
  - Still nothing... - RL - 11/7/2015 12:28:04 AM
- Great post, with some hidden interesting news. - bowser - 10/17/2015 12:42:53 AM
- A bit more - RL - 10/16/2015 1:00:35 AM
- Granted, I'm not a scientist of any sort (human or otherwise, that is)... - mcfly - 10/15/2015 7:14:11 PM
  - Some speculation... - ER - 10/15/2015 8:08:51 PM
    - By their works we shall know them... - RL - 10/17/2015 12:00:25 AM
- Thanks for posting this. - ER - 10/15/2015 6:47:54 PM
- Some classic media hype out there - Robert - 10/15/2015 6:32:36 PM

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