KIC 8462852, aka Tabby’s star, shows a pattern of behavior that has perplexed scientists and fascinated amateurs. We still don’t know what’s causing it
By Seth Shostak
For more than 50 years, we’ve been scanning the skies with king-size antennas, hoping to pick up a radio signal from space that would prove the existence of other technically adept beings. So far, our efforts have found only senseless static – it’s been a long fishing expedition without so much as a nibble.
However, today there are people who believe that someone is tugging on the line. They suggest that the peculiar behavior of a nondescript star 8,000 trillion miles away could be tipping us off to a massive alien construction project.
That’s an exciting prospect, and not entirely fanciful. After all, tens of billions of biology-friendly planets speckle our galaxy. Surely at least some of those worlds house intelligent beings. If not, then Earth is a miracle, an explanation of last resort for science.
SOURCE: The Guardian
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