In my most recent column, I discussed the lack of evidence for technically advanced extraterrestrials. Curiously enough, in the time between writing that and its publication, some possible evidence materialized.
I’m sure you’ve heard plenty about the star KIC 8462852. The Kepler spacecraft found that its light is quivering in a complex way, like a lantern harassed by a large moth. It doesn’t match anything predicted or observed around any other star. Something huge — perhaps half the star’s diameter — is in orbit there or passing in its vicinity, at times blocking up to 20 percent of the starlight. That’s no planet. The dips in the light have come in an irregular pattern, ruling out a simple orbit and hinting at multiple objects. In the absence of a well-understood, straightforward explanation, it’s reasonable to entertain exotic hypotheses.
It has long been proposed that technically advanced civilizations should be detectable by their works of “astroengineering.” The quirky character of KIC 8462852 resembles descriptions of “alien megastructures” that one can trace to science fiction going back at least to Olaf Stapledon in the 1930s. In 1960 Freeman Dyson described how advanced societies might surround their stars with enormous solar collectors. Stars hosting such “Dyson spheres” would appear dim in visible light but bright with the infrared glow due to waste heat.
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