Aliens!

There has been a lot of news lately, about a star, named KIC 8462852, located some 1,480 light-years away from Earth. This distant star, (you cannot see it without a telescope), has been under observation by the Kepler Space Telescope. This amazing instrument was launched in March, 2009. Its function is to look around our region of the Milky Way galaxy, continually monitoring the brightness of over 145,000 stars. It is designed to detect periodic dimming of these stars caused by extrasolar planets that cross in front of their stars. As of the beginning of this year, 2015, Kepler has found 1,013 confirmed exoplanets in about 440 stellar systems and another 3,199 unconfirmed planet possibilities. Several of these planets may be orbiting around their suns within a habitable zone thought to be able to support life. This is an exciting enough discovery, but recently released data about KIC 8462852 indicates that something strange may be happening there. Kepler has recorded a series of odd light fluctuations which scientists are having some difficulty explaining. Most planets orbiting a star do so on a regular basis and have a predictable time period when they cross in front of a sun, diming it for Kepler to see. KIC has very irregular periods of dimming that cannot be explained by regular orbiting planets. With irregular dips in dimness of the star, up to 20% at times, something strange may be in orbit around that sun. We do not know, by any means, the large number and type of planetary objects that may exist in the universe, since we really only have our own solar system for close observation. And, as I have said before, (in my last cartoon book), we live in a near-infinite universe with near-infinite possibilities. So what is happening out there? Some scientists have cautiously speculated that it may be a mega-structure known as a Dyson Sphere. A Dyson Sphere is a theoretical construct that could be created by an advanced civilization designed to capture a large amount of a stars energy in order to power said advanced civilization. It could consist of a vast ring or series of rings around the star or even a partial or complete sphere enclosing the sun. Such an object would easily obscure a star from view and as it orbits, turning in an unpredictable fashion. Needless to say, continued observation is key to solving this mystery. In all likelihood it will turn out to be a natural object, but there are still other possibilities. This is why I find science fascinating, we clearly don’t know everything and there is still a whole universe to discover. (Below, an old Star Wars painting of mine. Let’s hope there are no alien death stars!)