Comments on: New data from Tabby’s Star suggests that dust, not alien megastructures, is the cause of its dimming https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/new-data-from-tabbys-star-suggests-that-dust-not-alien-megastructures-is-the-cause-of-its-dimming/ Wed, 10 Jan 2018 18:41:12 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Mike Fortner https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/new-data-from-tabbys-star-suggests-that-dust-not-alien-megastructures-is-the-cause-of-its-dimming/#comment-1035618 Wed, 10 Jan 2018 18:41:12 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=49569#comment-1035618 I know we have heard a lot about a Dyson sphere. I agree with Localfluff. Dust seems unlikely. My vote is for a Larry Niven Ring world structure. There were analyzed as being unstable so it could be just the ticket. The ring could just revolve around the star in a very unpredictable manner. Just a thought. This is fun too.

]]> By: Robert Zimmerman https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/new-data-from-tabbys-star-suggests-that-dust-not-alien-megastructures-is-the-cause-of-its-dimming/#comment-1033974 Wed, 03 Jan 2018 17:33:51 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=49569#comment-1033974 In reply to Localfluff.

LocalFluff: Heh. Excellent post. Made me laugh, and was scientifically thoughtful as well.

]]> By: Localfluff https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/new-data-from-tabbys-star-suggests-that-dust-not-alien-megastructures-is-the-cause-of-its-dimming/#comment-1033965 Wed, 03 Jan 2018 16:23:53 +0000 http://behindtheblack.com/?p=49569#comment-1033965 It must be a very particular dust cloud to dim a star which is even larger than the Sun. That’s according to truly *stellar* physics that classifies these nearly Sun-like F-stars by the millions. The dimmings have been up to 20% almost from one day to another. The radius of the Sun is about 4 times the distance to the Moon. You don’t cover that up very easily. North Koreans covering up their Pyongyang central Square with flags all at once doesn’t quite do it. Even the trees reddening in the autumn are too slow. What could suddenly and repeatedly cover up an entire star?

And it only happened to one in 100,000 observed by the same telescope. If one dust cloud once dimmed a star, sure that must happen sometime. But this guy is regular with its irregular dimmings. I thought there was something wrong with the telescope, but it seems very well confirmed form the ground now. So even the bad ideas don’t work. That’s what exploration is all about. This beats our brains, and the human instinct is to look closer until we beat it back. Our brain cells somehow conspire against these unknown thingies to make up ideas about them that, seemingly, neutralizes them to our comfort world. That got a bit philosopsychical.

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