Scientists hope studies into Boyajian’s star could lead to enhanced techniques for identifying distant planetary civilisations I t is our galaxy’s

‘Is it aliens?’: how a mysterious star could help the search for extraterrestrial life

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2024-04-27 11:30:03

Scientists hope studies into Boyajian’s star could lead to enhanced techniques for identifying distant planetary civilisations

I t is our galaxy’s strangest star, a flickering globe of light whose sporadic and unpredictable output has baffled astronomers for years. But now the study of Boyajian’s star is being promoted as a research model that could help in one of the most intriguing of all scientific quests: finding intelligent life on other worlds.

This is the argument that Oxford University astrophysicist Prof Chris Lintott will make at a public lecture – Is it Aliens? The Most Unusual Star in the Galaxy – at a Gresham College lecture in Conway Hall, central London on Monday. His prime target will be Boyajian’s star, sometimes nicknamed Tabby’s star after scientist Tabetha Boyajian, in the constellation Cygnus whose odd dimming and brightening has been the subject of intense study by space probes and observatories in recent years.

“Its behaviour is extraordinary,” Lintott told the Observer. “It has rapid, random bursts where its brightness drops dramatically and then returns. There is no pattern to it. It flickers as if somebody was playing with its dimmer switch. There is no other star like this in our galaxy.”