A star 1,480 light-years away from Earth is at the center of a big scientific conundrum over whether its weird light patterns could indicate intelligent life around it. And it's possible that nobody would have noticed the star's weird behavior if it hadn't been for crowd sourcing.
It was a group of citizen scientists who noticed that the star KIC 8462852 occasionally dims by as much as 20 percent. That's way too big to be a passing planet, and scientists are at a loss to explain it. Some have suggested a group of mega-comets is passing in front of the star, while others have suggested aliens may have built a massive structure around the star to harness its energy. Neither explanation quite fits the data, though.
Now, in an effort to get to the bottom of the mystery, the research is going from crowd sourcing to crowdfunding. Yale astronomer Tabetha Boyajian, who's heading up the KIC 8462852 research, has set up a Kickstarter to find out more about what's causing this weird dimming.
It's not easy to get access to the world's best telescopes. Since all astronomers want to use them, there's an application process, and most will not win a spot in the lineup. Even if they do, they might only be able to use the telescope for a few hours or days at a time. However, Boyajian and her team don't know when KIC 8462852 is going to dim again, so they want to set up a continuous monitoring system.
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