Aliens – What Is Going On Up There?

An Update On Tabby’s Star and Oumuamua

Alien enthusiasts and believers in extra-terrestrials are sitting on the edge of their seats. Why? Because scientists from all over the globe are actively investigating some strange things that are happening up above. Things that could prove the existence of intelligent life on other planets. Is ET really out there? To find out, we will examine two widely popular scientific areas of interest: Tabby’s Star and Oumuamua.

Tabby’s Star

OK. So for all of us earthlings who are not up on our NASA and SETi news, this is what you need to know about Tabby’s star.

First Discovery

Tabetha Boyajian, astronomer and professor at Louisiana State University, detected a new star in 2011. It’s official name is KIC 8462852, but it was nick-named “Tabby’s star”, after the professor. Tabby’s star is incredibly large and very bright, but that’s not what makes it so exciting. Once it came into the Kepler Space Telescope’s field of view, astronomers noticed something strange. Tabby’s star did not behave like a normal star. This called for further analysis.

One Of These Stars Is Not Like The Others

The Kepler telescope is specially designed to study brightness fluctuations. It’s purpose is to capture the silhouettes of passing planets as they cross the path of the stars. What scientists found when the telescope was pointed at KIC 8462852; however, was much more interesting.

Tabby’s star is 1300 light-years away from earth and is approximately 50% larger than the sun, but it is its brightness that sets it apart from the others. Fluctuations in this star’s brightness (both up and down) can be as drastic as 20% and at unpredictable intervals. A normal star might dim and brighten again if a small, circular planet crosses its path. The circular planet’s orbital movement would also be something that could be predicted, as it would pass at a regular intervals. Tabby’s star, on the other hand, seems to be being blocked by something much, much larger and the crossings are at random.

Astronomers were called to direct their telescopes to the Cygnus constellation and watch what Tabby’s star was doing in an attempt to catch the dimming in the act and find out what (or maybe even who) was crossing its path.

Theories

One of the theories for the star’s strange dimming was that the star itself was variable. Another suggested that the star was surrounded by dusty comets or the leftover debris from planets that had either collided or were still being formed. Then along came Jason Wright, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University. Wright proposed the theory that the object that was crossing Tabby’s star was an alien-made megastructure.

Alien Megastructure Theory

Wright’s “Alien Megastructure Theory” caught the attention of not just space enthusiasts, but the mass media as well. Suddenly, everyone became interested in learning more about Tabby’s star. In essence, the theory states that the cause of the dimming and brightening could be an extremely large structure created by intelligent life. The sporadic movement across the star could be an alien craft in transit or some kind of piece of their engineering.

But if the movements of the object are random, how can we know for sure?

A Waiting Game

The next steps in finding the truth about this anomaly were to get more telescopes to hone in on it. The dip in brightness that sparked all of the theories above occurred in 2013. Surely if it happened again while astronomers around the world were watching, they would be able to photograph and identify the mysterious object, right? You bet!

Observations began in March of 2016 and in May, the next dip occurred while astronomers (and 18 robotic telescopes placed strategically around the globe) were watching in real-time. What they learned only served to spark more questions.

The first of their studies showed that there was no infrared “glow” that would normally appear from a large object orbiting the star. What this means is that the object is unusually cold and rules out the possibility of it being a forming planet.

After that, astronomers pointed a hyper-sensitive radio telescope at Tabby’s star in the hopes that they would hear something from a civilization capable of crafting such a mega-structure. The result? They heard nothing but silence.

Next, between April 24 and May 20, 2017, the teams recorded an episode of multiple dips that were clustered together. This occurrence supported the theory that the dimming was being caused by the same object.

Bingo!

Finally, in June of 2018, Tabitha Boyajian had a breakthrough. She and her team noticed that the change in light patterns were being filtered differently between red and blue colors. This was the information they needed to identify the object. A solid object passing in front of the star would have blocked out all light, regardless of color. The object was; therefore, not a solid (and could not be an alien megastructure – sorry folks). The team’s conclusion was that the object obscuring the bright star was actually…wait for it …dust! Yes. Space dust in various clusters and thickness.

But Wait! The Mystery Continues

The next question scientists are working to answer is: Where did the space dust come from?

The dust still continues to behave unpredictably and is very different from clumps of material that should circle a star at regular intervals. For example, the dust is cold. This indicates that it is quite far away from Tabby’s star. Also, the dust particles are incredibly small. This is confusing to scientists because particles of that size should be blown away by the amount of light the star emits. This means the dust is being held in some kind of reservoir and is being replenished by something else. Could it be that Tabby’s star destroyed another planet or moon? If so, this would be very strange behavior for what scientists describe as a “boring F star”.

So with a little disappointment (and maybe some relief) we didn’t find alien association with Tabby’s star, but this next hunk of space debris might be all the evidence we need.

Oumuamua

On October 19, 2017, the Pan-STARRS survey discovered an the first interstellar object: Oumuamua. Even the most conservative scientists are coming up with theories that sound more like science-fiction than reality. Let’s start with a (seemingly) simple question. What is it?

What Is Oumuamua?

Oumuamua is an unusually large interstellar “visitor” whose closest estimated origin would take 100,000 years to reach via chemical rockets. Scientists liken the object to an unexpected dinner guest from another country. If you wanted to get to know what that other country was like, you would want the dinner guest to stay and share their culture with you, but (unfortunately), by the time we realized we had a guest, it had passed us by and continued along its way.

Why is Oumuamua So Important?

There are 3 things that have scientists scratching their heads about this new discovery:

1. Up until now, scientists believed there were far fewer interstellar asteroids in our galaxy and that the likelihood of us detecting one was slim to none. If the detection was a random occurrence (which they believe it was), then we now understand that the Milky Way will have to eject 10,000,000,000,000,000 similar objects in its lifetime in order for us to have made this one discovery.
2. The motion and speed of Oumuamua is unexpectedly slow. Only 1 in every 500 stars moves as slowly as this object. By comparison, Oumuamua is like a buoy bobbing on the surface of the ocean and our solar system is like a speeding ship, ready to plow right into it. One theory suggests that there are a network of these objects, bobbing around like buoys, that serve as relay stations or street signs in interstellar space.
3. Oumuamua has a weird, elongated shape with its length 5 to 10 times longer than its width. This is A-typical in comparison to other asteroids which have a length to width ratio of 1 to 3. In addition, infrared-detecting telescopes can tell us that Oumuamua is unusually shiny and reflects light of up to 10 times higher than other rocks. This is like nothing we have ever seen in the solar system.

Now Things Get Weird

When scientists noticed our special guest, they (of course) began predicting and tracking the object’s expected trajectory, but Oumuamua did not behave as expected. It, instead, deviated from its anticipated course. Comets can change their foreseen trajectory when surface ice heats up and evaporates, creating a rocket effect. This is what causes the comet’s “tail”, but no such tail effect was seen on Oumuamua. So how did this interstellar guest get it’s extra “push”?

Scientists know that Oumuamua did not break up into pieces (which could cause push in normal asteroids) because the push was slow and steady instead of an impulsive and quick burst. This rules out cometary outgassing. The only other logical cause for the extra push must be radiation pressure from the sun. Ok. Great. So what?

In order for this to be true, Oumuamua would need to be less than 1 milometer thick with a surface size of at least 20 meters. This is incredibly important when you put all of the findings together. Oumuamua wouldn’t look like a rock. It would look like a solar sail, a perfect reflector, and like something of artificial origin. If Oumuamua is of artificial origin, we may have found evidence of intelligent life in space.

Our Kepler satellite tells us that about 25% of all of the stars in the Milky Way have a habitable planet about the same size as Earth with the potential of having water on its surface. With this fact in mind, it is conceivable to imagine that interstellar space is full of artificially created items that either float around serving some purpose or could just be discarded alien trash.

More Research Is Needed

Though Oumuamua is moving too fast for our rockets to catch up with it, the interstellar guest will still take thousands of years to exit our solar system. This means we still have a possibility of getting a better look at it if we can develop new technologies for faster space travel within the next 10 years.

Our only other option is to sit and wait for the next interstellar visitor to drop by. Scientists expect that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will be fully operational within the next two years. It is highly sensitive and should be able to detect other Oumuamua-like objects. If it doesn’t, then we will know that Oumuamua was unique and that we have a darn good reason to go chase it down and learn the truth.

Reflection

Though Tabby’s star didn’t give us the proof of alien life we though we might learn, Oumuamua is incredibly intriguing. I would compare its discovery to how a fish might feel if it found a soda can in the ocean. Did we find a piece of alien equipment gone adrift?

What do you think? Leave a comment below. I personally respond to each and every one.

Related articles: Do Aliens Exist And What Happened To Them?

References: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/star-spurred-alien-megastructure-theories-dims-again https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/oumuamua-like-objects-might-supercharge-planet-formation/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/6-strange-facts-about-the-interstellar-visitor-oumuamua/ https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/mystery-of–alien-megastructure–star-has-been-cracked/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/g28364054/are-aliens-real/ https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/dust-to-dust-the-mystery-of-tabby-s-star-deepens https://www.seti.org/whats-tabbys-star