So... have we found Ringworld?

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Linuxluver

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# 181411 14-Oct-2015 18:59

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Looks like a star out there ("KIC 8462852") is surrounded by something that makes its light levels fluctuate chaotically. It might be a huge field of comets, sucked in by a passing star - or it might be alien megastructures blocking the light from the star.....like a kind of Ringworld.

I see the star in question also has a companion dwarf star. Perhaps that has something to do with it, too.

But it's causing quite a stir. It's 454 parsecs / 1480.7 light years away.

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# 1405913 14-Oct-2015 19:47

But the ringworld is unstable!

gzt

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# 1405917 14-Oct-2015 19:56

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New Scientist managed the same report a while back without aliens:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28191-citizen-scientists-catch-cloud-of-comets-orbiting-distant-star/

The cool part is this anomaly was discovered by amateurs in a voluntary effort to classify some of the Kepler data.

Earth to KIC 8462852 over please explain the anomalous hole in your dyson sphere over.

Nice find very mysterious.

Rikkitic

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# 1407964 16-Oct-2015 16:13

Apologies for duplicating this topic. I searched first but missed this thread.

My point was, if this does actually turn out to be alien, The builders of those structures, who were clearly far ahead of us 1500 years ago, have had 1500 years to get even farther ahead of us, not to mention 1500 years to come here. Should we be worried?

I don't think there is ever a bad time to talk about how absurd war is, how old men make decisions and young people die. - George Clooney

Talkiet

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# 1407973 16-Oct-2015 16:27

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It could also be Gods nightlight, twinkling away. It might also be a huge interstellar disco that exists by pure chance. It might be us, having discovered time travel in the future and moved there.

But no...

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are the product of my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

DarthKermit

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# 1407992 16-Oct-2015 17:24

Oldmanakbar

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# 1407995 16-Oct-2015 17:33

Well if they built a Dyson sphere 1500 years ago and hadn't somehow invented warp drive I wouldn't be too worried.

Any civilisation that spent 1500 years travelling towards us in a slowboat (assuming they survived) would have gone totally lord of the flies by now.
A few wall-mart specials could probably handle them.

Unless of course that is us 1500 years ago, and we came here. And in fact we are all aliens.

We should all totally write a book and turn it into a movie.

jpoc

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# 1408066 16-Oct-2015 21:24

I understand that, in Q1 2016, radio telescopes capable of detecting the existence of radio transmissions from the vicinity of the supposed mega-structure will provide more detail.

If they detect such transmissions then the world's largest radio telescope array will be having a gander later on in the year. That observation should be capable of determining exactly what is being transmitted.

I am officially looking forward to spending Christmas 2016 watching alien telly.

Wooooooo!!

oxnsox

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# 1408079 16-Oct-2015 22:19

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jpoc: I understand that, in Q1 2016, radio telescopes capable of detecting the existence of radio transmissions from the vicinity of the supposed mega-structure will provide more detail.

If they detect such transmissions then the world's largest radio telescope array will be having a gander later on in the year. That observation should be capable of determining exactly what is being transmitted.

I am officially looking forward to spending Christmas 2016 watching alien telly.

Wooooooo!!

Likely you'll be out of luck, it'll be region locked

jpoc

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# 1408082 16-Oct-2015 22:58

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oxnsox:

Likely you'll be out of luck, it'll be region locked

We will crack that. It's not like there is any danger of them extraditing us!

DarthKermit

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# 1408097 17-Oct-2015 02:27

jpoc:
oxnsox:

Likely you'll be out of luck, it'll be region locked

We will crack that. It's not like there is any danger of them extraditing us!

Wanna bet? They could just use their teleporters to extradite you to face intergalactic justice.

JWR

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# 1408147 17-Oct-2015 10:28

Oldmanakbar: Well if they built a Dyson sphere 1500 years ago and hadn't somehow invented warp drive I wouldn't be too worried.

Any civilisation that spent 1500 years travelling towards us in a slowboat (assuming they survived) would have gone totally lord of the flies by now.
A few wall-mart specials could probably handle them.

Unless of course that is us 1500 years ago, and we came here. And in fact we are all aliens.

We should all totally write a book and turn it into a movie.

Any civilization of that capability, would have already mapped, imaged and analyzed all the planets within a few thousand light years anyway.

They would know we are here anyway.

gzt

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# 1408172 17-Oct-2015 11:43

Building dyson structures and still using radio? Unlikely.

jpoc

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# 1408245 17-Oct-2015 14:28

gzt: Building dyson structures and still using radio? Unlikely.

You have a better suggestion?

Really?

Something with a lower latency? After all, radio waves only travel at the speed of light.

Something that can be used for communication between different bodies orbiting in a star system? Bit hard to do that with fibre optics.

Something that can communicate with space ships travelling around in a solar system?

Something that can broadcast information to mobile consumers of information? Even when those consumers are out of line of sight?

Don't duck out by saying something like "they would have better ways that we cannot comprehend" because what we have seen would suggest otherwise.

We have seen a Dyson scale construction around one star - and quite importantly, not around any other stars in their vicinity. If they had FTL capabilities they would probably be erecting that stuff in other stars in their neighborhood.

If they had access to unlimited amounts of energy, they would have no need for Dyson scale construction projects. No breakthroughs in extracting energy from the zero point field then.

It seems unlikely that they will be using sub-ether wavebands or zero latency tachyon pulses for their general communications so yes, I still expect them to be using radio waves to pass information around.

Talkiet

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# 1408249 17-Oct-2015 14:41

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I'm staggered by how much we already know about this alien race.

I mean, for a start they have already built a huge vacuum cleaner.

N

Please note all comments are the product of my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

oxnsox

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# 1408372 17-Oct-2015 20:13

I suspect they've just copied someone elses design, and it hasn't quite worked out. Otherwise they would've built several as jpoc suggests.

I mean when technology is that advanced it's unlikely they have copyright penalties in their (TGGA) Trans Galactic Galaxies Agreement.

(Of course I'm likely to be wrong as I'm working with 1500yr old data here)

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