Kepler data confirms the strange goings on with “Tabby’s” star. This is the unusual star that has astronomers puzzled with its periodic dimming and brightening, variations so sudden and significant that they are tough to explain using existing models of nascent and mature solar systems:
One of the explanations for this phenomena, and the one that has received the most press, is the idea that the star could be flickering and dimming due to an alien superstructure that extraterrestrial beings are building around their star as a way, perhaps, to collect energy (these hypothetical structure are known as Dyson spheres). Though there's been no proof of this hypothesis, it also can't be ruled out. The other theories, including that the star is blocked by the debris of a smashed planet, or that the dimming is caused by what's known as “gravity darkening,” would go towards explaining parts of the phenomenon, but no current theory could explain it entirely.
The star also seems to be fading over short periods of time, which should not—and would not—happen to this type of main sequence star. Scientists are still not buying alien mega-structures as an explanation. But the brightness deltas do appear to be quite real.
- Turtles and parrots can reach a ripe old age, but there’s one, strange, mysterious, and much weirder looking vertebrate that’s barely past frisky adolescence when the older turtles start passing away.
- The evidence mounts that a couple of billion years ago Venus was, in a manner of speaking, more like Earth than Earth itself:
“In the GISS model’s simulation, Venus’ slow spin exposes its dayside to the sun for almost two months at a time,” co-author and fellow GISS scientist Anthony Del Genio said. “This warms the surface and produces rain that creates a thick layer of clouds, which acts like an umbrella to shield the surface from much of the solar heating. The result is mean climate temperatures that are actually a few degrees cooler than Earth’s today.”
- At least a cool quarter of a million years ago, our ancestors were already producing beautifully crafted stone tools designed to slice up large game for hungry hominids.
But in what may prove to be the most exciting find to date, the German weekly Der Spiegal announced recently that astronomers have discovered an Earth like planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, just 4.25 light-years away. Yes, in what is an apparent trifecta, this newly-discovered exoplanet is Earth-like, orbits within it’s sun’s habitable zone, and is within our reach. But is this too good to be true?
Increased shipping noise is disrupting the foraging behaviour of humpback whales in the North Atlantic, according to a new study. Scientists in the US and UK said their findings could impact upon the numbers of humpback whales in the long term.