Looks like being the key word, its very likely not, but its certainly weird.
1) Its 1500 light years away, meaning that if it was a dyson sphere, 1500 years ago, that civ was already a type II civilization. When we were still warring tribes.
2) Its in the habitable zone, and planets around it have been identified as "earth candidates"
3) There is a structured mass of material surrounding the star. The star is an old star, the material is much newer. That mass of material appears to be in a grid pattern.
4) The expected output of the star, vs the observed is 22% less. When Jupiter passes in front of our sun, the output drops 1%
It could just be an odd debris field from a comet swarm passthrough, but its "interesting"
So... if we were able to get a better view of it (hubble cant, x-ray telescopes cant, its not emitting, etc) and it did turn out to be a created structure, we could get a real time viewing lens to a civilization 3000 years ahead of our, minimum.
That said. What should we do if it were proven?
1500 light years, while really close, is an impossible distance for us to traverse without ftl/warp
A civilization that advanced would view us as bugs at worst, neanderthals at best.
Any signal we sent to them, would not arrive for 1500 years.
We dont even know if theyre still there.
citation:https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3ou35w/before_the_media_blows_up_reporting_on_how_weve/
1) Its 1500 light years away, meaning that if it was a dyson sphere, 1500 years ago, that civ was already a type II civilization. When we were still warring tribes.
2) Its in the habitable zone, and planets around it have been identified as "earth candidates"
3) There is a structured mass of material surrounding the star. The star is an old star, the material is much newer. That mass of material appears to be in a grid pattern.
4) The expected output of the star, vs the observed is 22% less. When Jupiter passes in front of our sun, the output drops 1%
It could just be an odd debris field from a comet swarm passthrough, but its "interesting"
So... if we were able to get a better view of it (hubble cant, x-ray telescopes cant, its not emitting, etc) and it did turn out to be a created structure, we could get a real time viewing lens to a civilization 3000 years ahead of our, minimum.
That said. What should we do if it were proven?
1500 light years, while really close, is an impossible distance for us to traverse without ftl/warp
A civilization that advanced would view us as bugs at worst, neanderthals at best.
Any signal we sent to them, would not arrive for 1500 years.
We dont even know if theyre still there.
citation:https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3ou35w/before_the_media_blows_up_reporting_on_how_weve/