In 2011, a group of citizen scientists working through a crowdsourced planet discovery platform called Planet Hunters flagged a mysterious star emitting a strange light pattern that they couldn't explain.
Almost instantly, theories about the star actually being evidence of an alien civilization made headlines. Years later, scientists still can't explain the phenomenon.
At this year's TED conference in Vancouver, Tabetha Boyajian, the astronomer who oversees Planet Hunters and was the lead author on a paper investigating the star's light patterns (aptly called "Where's the Flux," or WTF) said she still can't rule out aliens — though even she admits it would be highly unlikely.
"At this point, we haven't been able to rule out aliens, and haven't been able to confirm natural theories either," she said in her talk.
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