The star KIC 8462852 in the constellation Cygnus is once again considered a candidate for extraterrestrial life in its vicinity. Nathan Eismont, an expert from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that science is arguing with fiction here.
The star KIC 8462852 in the constellation Cygnus is once again considered from the point of view of a candidate for the existence of extraterrestrial life in its vicinity, which is supported by the alien megastructures surrounding the star. These are the results of research by astronomer Bradley Schaefer of Louisiana State University, reported by New Scientist.
The peculiarity of the star KIC 8462852 is that its luminosity with strict periodicity changes by 22%. The suggestion that this could be caused by a cloud of asteroids and comets was ruled out. The number of celestial objects that could change the luminosity in such a way is characteristic only of young stars, and KIC 8462852 does not fall under this characteristic. Astronomer Bradley Schaefer, after conducting a thorough study of the images of the star, came to the conclusion that the only explanation for this twinkling remains the version of extraterrestrial civilization.
Nathan Eismont, a leading researcher at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, commented on this hypothesis on Sputnik radio.
“It is rather difficult to reliably explain this phenomenon. Although the very phenomenon of twinkling of stars has been known for a long time … Insignificant twinkling is manifested due to the fact that a planet passes near the star, it somewhat reduces the brightness of the star in the limit of 1%. Such a change in brightness is not only possible to fix, but also to measure the parameters of the change in brightness. For this, the Kepler spacecraft is used, which simultaneously “scans” hundreds of thousands of stars for the detection of this phenomenon in order to subsequently understand: what is it - a planet or some kind of hindrance, failure,”said the scientist.
To date, he said, most exoplanets were discovered in this way.
“There are already about two thousand of them - confirmed exoplanets. Moreover, it is possible to determine the parameters of the planet's motion: the distance to the star, its size, and so on. Then hypotheses are already being built: this planet belongs to the habitat zone or is close to it, said Nathan Eismont.
But, he added, all this concerns a change in luminosity of one and a half percent.
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“But when we are talking about 20% of the changes, then there is no need to talk about any reasonable explanation. There is a temptation to explain it in some fantastic way. And there are people who are subject to these temptations. By the way, these people are quite qualified, but in the scientific community such hypotheses are not welcomed. It is customary there to check everything thoroughly and not accept anything right away,”noted Nathan Eismont.