Astronomers Michael Hippke from Germany and Daniel Angerhausen from the United States considered that alien civilizations could not exist around the star KIC 8462852. The authors published their research results on the arXiv.org website.
Scientists followed Bradley Schaefer's study of photographic films in the archives of Harvard University. Experts believe that Schaefer's conclusions cannot be considered correct, since the films he studied were not calibrated.
Previously, Schaefer conducted studies of films and found that the luminosity of KIC 8462852 regularly decreased by 20 percent between 1890 and 1989, and showed that the star's behavior was not explained by the possible presence of a comet cloud around it.
The star KIC 8462852 is interesting in that its luminosity with a strict periodicity changes by 22 percent. A number of scientists have suggested that it may be surrounded by the Dyson sphere, which was created by an alien civilization living in its vicinity.
Another point of view suggests that KIC 8462852 is surrounded by a cloud of many comets and asteroids. However, such formations are possible only near young stars, among which KIC 8462852 does not belong.
The binary star KIC 8462852 lies 1,480 light-years from Earth. The mass and radius of its largest star is about 1.5 times greater than that of the Sun. The companion of a large star is 885 astronomical units away.