Double star KIC 8462852, located in the constellation of Cygnus at a distance of 1,480 light years from Earth, is known for the fact that in the recent past, scientists have recorded anomalous fluctuations in its luminosity. This feature some scientists were inclined to explain the presence close to the lights of alien megastruktur. Recently, however, experts from Germany, Russia, USA and Estonia issued a denial another evidence of this theory — that the star allegedly incredibly quickly “go off” with age.
Double star was discovered in October of last year, and immediately attracted the attention of scientists because, according to the findings, the luminosity is frequently and abruptly changed, sometimes decreasing by 20 percent during the day. Subsequently, the astronomer Bradley Schaefer of Louisiana state University in Baton Rouge, examining photographic plates from the archive of the Harvard Observatory, discovered a rather sharp decline in the “average” luminosity stars in the long term — about 14 percent from 1890 to 1989, that is a little more than a century. Although the researcher is not in a hurry to declare that its findings confirm the existence of a near-star alien super-civilization, they, at least, allowed to discard some of the more “boring” explanation, such as a swarm of comets passing in front of its star and do not transmit the light.
However, a new study conducted by an international team of scientists showed that the previous data may contain error. Using data Sonneborghe Observatory in Germany, experts came to the conclusion that in the long term, the luminosity of KIC 8462852 remains unchanged, and therefore the “alien” explanation temporary fluctuations still cannot be considered one of the most likely.
It is worth noting that earlier insights Bradley Schaefer has been challenged another group of experts suggested that used photographic plates were obtained using 17 different telescopes, making it difficult to calibrate them and makes the results less reliable. However, in response to the criticism, Schaefer said that he is ready and knows about a number of other studies, which have failed to prove that KIC 8462852 gradually extinguished.
The “alien” version of what is happening with the binary star implies that extraterrestrial civilization has surrounded her so-called Dyson sphere — a hypothetical design that allows you to collect the light from a star and convert it into huge amounts of energy.