Alien Megastructure or Comet Swarm?

This recent series of articles on the Experimentor_4u blog has discussed how Kepler is able to discover alien worlds, and whether it would be able to detect alien civilisations. Recently, a star by the name of KIC8462852 has given up some tantalising data which has set the scientific world abuzz. Has Kepler detected a new kind of “comet swarm”, with rock and ice debris moving around the distant star? Or has it found something much more earth shattering, a discovery which could change humanity's view of the cosmos, that an alien civilisation has finally been found?

Read on, and find out the secrets of KIC8462852 in our latest free PDF.

Can Kepler Discover Alien Civilisations?

Following on from Experimentor_4u’s recent post about Kepler and the puzzling star KIC8462852, let's take a more in depth look at Kepler and its search for life. Scientists have always wondered whether there were other planets out there in the cosmos, beyond the boundaries of our solar system – the Kepler satellite has finally answered this question. Undoubtedly there are alien worlds in abundance throughout our galaxy and beyond, but what if those planets hold more than interesting chemistry and water, what if they contain life itself, could Kepler detect this? And what would it need to detect to prove the existence of an advanced civilisation similar to our own?

How Kepler Detects Exoplanets

The Kepler satellite was launched in 2009, and has since then identified over 1,000 potential exoplanets outside our own star system, circling other stars, some similar to our own. It does this by measuring any flickering coming from a star caused by planets, comets and other astronomical bodies passing between the star and our planet. For a more detailed explanation of why Kepler is important, check out the video below.



 
Tell Tale Signs of an Advanced Alien Civilisation

While the Kepler satellite can detect flickering, it is through complex calculations that scientists are able to assess whether this flickering is caused by planets in another solar system, or something else. One such calculation uses the 3^rd Law of Planetary Motion to ascertain a planet's size and orbit. By knowing a planet's size, we can predict the amount of gravity it will generate. By knowing the orbit, we can tell if it is just in the right sweet spot to allow water and other materials which are associated with life to form. This helps us predict the likelihood of life based on our understanding of how it evolved on earth. But can an advanced alien civilisation be detected? In theory, it is possible that Kepler could detect flickering caused by massive alien constructions orbiting a distant star. This is exactly what some believe the unusual flickering of a star called KIC8462852may be caused by, but others believe there is another explanation. What's certain is that Kepler is opening up our understanding of the universe and just how many life-sustaining planets may be out there, whether someone is staring back at us as we gaze to these strange new worlds, only time will tell.

Have Scientists Found Proof of Alien Life?

The truth may indeed be “out there”. While most accounts of UFOs and little green men have conclusively been shown to be hoaxes, delusions, or the misidentifications of man-made and natural phenomena, astronomers may have found tantalising evidence of an alien civilisation, floating through the vastness of the cosmos. Over this series of articles, the Experimentor_4u blog will examine just how much truth there is to this story.

The Search for E.T.

While most research to find evidence for extra-terrestrial life has focused on Mars and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, there are ongoing efforts to assess the presence of life in the star systems and galaxies outside the boundaries of our own solar system. This has primarily been an effort to find evidence of water via spectral analysis, or by picking up faint radio signals from possible alien civilisations, until now. A study by Jason Wright, an astronomer working out of Penn State University, may indicate that a huge artificial construction is orbiting a distant star.

An Unusual Sun
 
The star, KIC8462852, can be found sitting innocuously between Cygnus and Lyra, two famous constellations. Observed through the Kepler telescope – designed to detect features of star systems including planets – KIC8462852 is a very strange proposition. Kepler has discovered many 'exoplanets', but something startled researchers in this instance; the light from the star behaves in a way unlike any other previously observed. Kepler works by detecting flickering in a star's light which indicates that a planet has moved across its face, momentarily reducing the amount of light which reaches our planet; as the infographic below shows, Kepler can detect all kinds of astronomical data. The flickering of KIC8462852 is different, however; it flickers more often than it should. Some scientists are entertaining the possibility that this is caused by a hypothetical construction called a Dyson Swarm.




Could it Be Evidence of Alien Life?

A Dyson Swarm has been predicted as a way which advanced civilisations could harness the power of a star, by building orbiting structures which collect the rays of the sun much like millions of solar panels. This has been put forward as a serious explanation for the flickering KIC8462852, but there are more grounded explanations such as a planet which has broken up into pieces, or other debris such as comets. Whether it really is an alien construction, only further research will reveal. Stay tuned for the second part of this series about Kepler to discover what experts say would be the true tell-tale signs of the existence of an alien civilisation.