The universe is such a vast place that it is hard to think Earth is the only world that harbors life. What if somewhere out there, hyper-advanced aliens exist?
Outer space is an amazing place. The universe we live in is full of mysteries. Distant galaxies, solar systems, and stars. Strange worlds, some of which are larger than the largest planet in our solar system. Black Holes are there too. There are dormant black holes and active black holes, and we recently found the closest black hole to Earth. The more we look into outer space, the more surprised we seem to be. That is because we know very little about the universe. But we are learning at a fast pace. In this journey, the James Webb Space Telescope has greatly helped us. It has revealed and helped us understand what some of the first moments after the Big Bang were like, and when the first galaxies and stars formed.
22% dimming
But there are more mysteries than distant black holes in faraway galaxies. Some of these mysteries orbit distant stars. A lot of things can orbit stars, for example. Planets –exoplanets– are the most common. To this day, we have found more than 5,000 alien worlds. But other things can orbit stars too. Like dust and debris. But back in 2015, an astronomer found something peculiar around a star. While analyzing distant regions in space, some 1475 light-years from Earth, astronomers noticed there was something strange about the luminosity (brightness) of a star dibbed KIC8462852. Scientists analyzing data had noticed up to a 22% dimming in the star’s brightness.
Explanations and theories
Several theories were put forth to explain the odd dimming. Several hypotheses have been put forth to explain the star’s massive irregular changes in brightness as measured by the star’s light curve, but none to date has fully explained all aspects of the light curve. Some of the theories astronomers came up with in an attempt to explain the odd dimming was an uneven ring of dust around the star. Another explanation was that a swarm of comets was circling the distant star. But a more foreign explanation involved advanced extraterrestrials. What if, 1475 light-years from Earth, a hyper-advanced alien civilization existed? And what if this incredibly advanced civilization had constructed something called a Dyson Sphere around the star? A Dyson sphere is an alien megastructure that surrounds the star or parts of it and harnesses the energy from the star.
This mini-documentary series looks into what scientists have found and whether the existence of a massive Dyson Sphere surrounding the star is still possible.
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