Whether it’s aliens or not, the show on KIC is interesting to watch
(Mirror Daily, United States) Soon enough, astronomers will be able to put an end to all the speculations that have surrounded the infamous KIC 8462852 the past week, as they will be able to see if it’s an alien megastructure, light show or a black hole?
Approximately a week ago, several articles were published on the internet about mysterious activity caught by Kepler around a curious star in the Milky Way. The story goes that it seemed to dim in light on and off at irregular intervals.
At first, this didn’t seem much to astronomers, as this kind of light show is common to planetary bodies. Usually it happens when another such body passes right in front of them, evidently causing them to dim. But for KIC 8462852, this was happening too often and in much too weird a way. This is what sprung some voices to say that there might be alien life on or around that planet or that some aliens might have set up some solar panels on KIC, which are causing the disturbance in the force (pardon my geek).
And this has caused a lot of excitement. Naturally, this is because the implications of such an idea are immense. Of course, it would mean that aliens exist, that they are more technologically advanced than us, that they are trying to harvest solar energy on other planets and that they are residing right here in our own galaxy, the Milky Way. And we managed to see all that via Kepler the hunter. Sounds a bit too much? Maybe because it is.
Astronomers at the Pennsylvania State University have decided to take matters into their own hands. Jason Wright, an astronomer there, says they are prepared to test the abnormal occurrence when it happens again. They are just waiting for another chance to see the light show again and when it happens, they will be able to observe it first hand and definitely say what is going on around KIC 8462852.
Sounds like a good plan and a good show, so fingers crossed for the astronomers. It would be good if all the news and rumors could be put to rest, as this has sparked a lot of buzz and debate. Part of the scientist world says it’s ridiculous to even consider such a thing and that this is misleading towards the public, while the other part says this is a good occasion. As the search for intelligence outside our own world almost never has any good directions where to look, this might be a good one to take into consideration.
Let’s just wait and see what happens.
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