Fermi paradox

[Klumpen]

In order to not let this thread die so fast, I gave it a more general title since in the end it's always about the Fermi paradox one way or the other.
The opening post may be enhanced at some point.

http://www.space.com/30849-bizarre-kepler-signal-alien-intelligence-speculation.html
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2015/10/nasas-kepler-mission-data-yields-a-bizarre-star-is-it-orbited-by-a-swarm-of-orbiting-et-megastructur.html

What do you think?

 

[fusion_power]

I think Dr. Sheldon Cooper would be very interested in this.  

 

[Urben]

Something stinks on that.

The luminance drops are descriped as "aperiodic" and about "20% at maximum" which is very weird.
Even if it is a megastructure which is orbiting the star should appear as periodic transits. Anything else means the structure is not doing a simple orbit. Meaning, it is using some kind of propulsion, which is costing energy. And because this structure is very big it would be very inefficient.
What reason could the construction of such a megastructure have?

1. Powersource - enclosing a star with high efficient solar panels should be a very nice source of energy. But here again it should have almost no use of propulsion for raising the efficiency

2. Securing a inhabited planet from solar storms - Makes sense to build a megastructure with propulsion. But here again a small structure orbiting Lagrangian Point 1 would be more efficiet.

3. Signal - My favourite. Because a star is so bright it can be used as a lamp. And with a big enough structure you can put that lamp on and off - like for morse. You could put a big object in a very low star orbit, which results in short periods. And by making it aperiodic you can send some kind of code in one or more directions. A brilliant idea. That way you dont need a lamp as big as a sun to contact other species. And the larger you make this structure, the higher are the luminance drops and the easier it is to be spot by others (us).

A natural source for this dont want to come up with me. It still can be a detection error I guess.

 

[rygD]

What do you think?

Do you mind answering your own question?

I feel that this might be something that was created by some intelligent beings (or the things created by them), but I am extremely doubtful.  

As for the broader question, it seems extremely unlikely that life wouldn't have developed elsewhere.  I feel that there must be, or have been, other living things out there.  It seems likely that intelligent life developed somewhere at some point (maybe even on our own planet).  I think that it is possible life here could have originally come from somewhere else, maybe Mars, although it probably originated here.  I just don't feel life is as rare as it seems, and I don't think it is as fragile as we often treat it.  Conditions that would be lethal to one type of organism are often beneficial to another.  I think we will find more interesting stuff if we stop looking for signs of life as we understand it.

I could take the possibilities further (on a much "larger" scale), but I want to avoid having people think I am more strange than they already do.

 

[WizardStan]

Even if it is a megastructure which is orbiting the star should appear as periodic transits.

The suggestion I heard was that it isn't *a* megastructure, but an array of structures orbiting at different angles for optimal efficiency.

edit: also that it's just an asteroid belt of chaotically sized rocks.

 

[rygD]

edit: also that it's just an asteroid belt of chaotically sized rocks.

Like that would ever happen "naturally".  You expect us to believe that?  Show me one actual example of something like this. 

 

[Klumpen]

What do you think?

Do you mind answering your own question?

I want to believe.

The problem is, that even if it were aliens, it was 1500 years ago and just as far away, so as always we simply cannot investigate, which is very frustrating.
Their Dyson swarm would probably be even larger now and they'd probably had built long range spaceships with self sustaining inner life cycles (and/or cryo tech) to colonize other planets after centuries of travel (if warp drive is impossible), but we still wouldn't be able to meet them.
Stephen Hawking will be glad that it's so far away, because he is against SETI sending signals and trying to make contact - in fear of being in the position of the native Americans the moment a technologically more advanced civilisation shows up.

 

[rygD]

Perhaps such an advanced species would have moved beyond needing to conquer and consume everything they encounter, and would be more interested in exploring and learning.  I don't mind people being cautious.  A lot of really bad things have come from doing stuff "because we can".  I wonder, though, if Hawking  isn't too worried that whatever we encounter will be like the Borg, although if they were like the ones on the episode of TNG he was in they would certainly be a lot less harmful than they usually are.  I would love to be able to meet or at least receive or transmit information to or from life forms that developed in another part of the universe (or beyond).  Of course, I am pretty sure the first thing I would say to them is "pics or it didn't happen".  It would be very interesting to learn about each other.

 

[Urben]

Even if it is a megastructure which is orbiting the star should appear as periodic transits.

The suggestion I heard was that it isn't *a* megastructure, but an array of structures orbiting at different angles for optimal efficiency.

edit: also that it's just an asteroid belt of chaotically sized rocks.

We found systems with 6 or 7 exoplanets in it by simply using the transit method. Still no asteroid could be that big cover that much of the sun. If it would, the sun would be wobbling very hard. I'm not sure at the moment how big the star is compared to our sun, but a asteroid which covers this much is more likely a gasgiant, which - depending on the size - could also turn into a sun.

 

[DrHAX]

If it is an alien structure then it would be interesting. However with it being 1,500 light years away many questions could be brought up. (Yes i'm ignoring the comet theory because I'm an author and theorizing about alien motives is much more interesting then comets for this comment.) Are the beings who built it still present? Or was it even built by one group of beings. Or could it even be a piece of machinery we don't understand? The gravity effect of a star is massive and the "Weight" it has on the fabric of this dimension is heavy many people theorize if you could harvest such a thing you could manipulate space and some other physics based stuff. Also what do we know about the star? Maybe its a machine kept to contain the star from blowing up? Or what if its a hitch hikers guide to the galaxy type of deal and some race of highly advanced creatures just made a freaking star because they could and this mega structure is just the equipment left behind in making/ or maybe even used to study it. I mean hell our species has made things just to study it for no other reason just for academic pursuit... which is basically translates into "Because we can that's why!"

 

 

[sebt3]

Anything like a Dyson ring would produce infrared radiations (because of the thermodynamic laws). None are detected beside what's expected from a star of that class. So this is not someting harvesting energy.

There's something between us and this star passing by. it doesnt have to be in orbit around the star. It could be just a cloud of matter with random density or some lonely interstellar object. But sure, it can also be an anhilating armada coming from this star to kick our ass at ftl speed

 

[levi]

Perhaps a high-tech dyson ring could push the entropic energy down into the microwave band where it gets lost in the cosmic background radiation?

Anyway, a dyson ring doesn't fit the acyclic nature of the reported signal.  It would have to be multiple partial rings operating in different orbits, which would hardly be efficient as a lot of the time inner elements would be obscuring the outer ones.

I tend towards a system where planet-forming has largely failed, and there are an awful lot of biggish rocks still floating about.  If it is indeed an output from a single system, and not something else between there and the observer, that is.

 

[Klumpen]

 

[jeeks]

well now i'm thinking about alien genitals