One of the big controversies in astronomy this year has been the “Astronomers Discover Something ‘You Would Expect an Alien Civilization to Build’, and SETI Wants a Look” story. For anyone wanting to better understand the scientific story behind this topic, check out the TED talk above by astronomer Tabetha Boyajian.
Something massive, with roughly 1,000 times the area of Earth, is blocking the light coming from a distant star known as KIC 8462852, and nobody is quite sure what it is. As astronomer Tabetha Boyajian investigated this perplexing celestial object, a colleague suggested something unusual: Could it be an alien-built megastructure? Such an extraordinary idea would require extraordinary evidence. In this talk, Boyajian gives us a look at how scientists search for and test hypotheses when faced with the unknown.
Related stories:
