Are aliens really behind a strange, remote star identified as KIC 84622852? A new study released by academics at Columbia University and UC Berkeley has come to the assumption that it's not an alien megastructure that's in control for the strange sudden darkening of the planet, but rather because the star ate up a planet about 10,000 years ago.
The "Alien Megastructure" Hypothesis
The study, issued this week in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, determined that a star gulping up one of its own planets would create things like that of what scientists have seen with this star. KIC 84622852 had fascinated scientists for the last 18 months, with many wild concepts being proposed including the idea that an alien megastructure is causing the sudden dimming of 14 percent of the star's brilliance between 1890 and 1989. The star also dipped in brightness by as much as 22 percent over just a period of two days based on remarks from the Kepler space telescope.
Others had anticipated that a large group of comets was revolving the planet and other more plausible scientific facts. But this study aims to put them all to bed, and unfortunately, dash our hopes for an alien finding. Now a more convincing theory about KIC 84622852 suggests the star consumed a planet about 10,000 years ago.
"We propose that the secular dimming behavior is the result of the inspiral of a planetary body or bodies into KIC 8462852," researchers from Columbia University and UC Berkley said in a new research paper. If the star did consume a planet, it could explain the unusual light pattern, researchers said.
It would have caused Tabby's Star to suddenly animate erratically, especially if a separate moon system from the submerged planet was still circling the star erratically blocking its light. The star would show a dimming outline of light as it returned to normal, the research suggested.
