The search is officially on for the hypothesized alien civilization near or within the system of a mysterious star called KIC 8462852. The hunt came after scientists began using the Allen Telescope Array (ATA), which is a system of radio dishes designed for astronomical research and the search for intelligent alien life, in order to find radio signals from the identified star located 1,500 light-years away.
The alien civilization theory is one of the leading hypotheses being considered to explain the unusual transit signal in images seen of KIC 8462852. A transit signal occurs everytime an exoplanet or an object drifts in front of the star and the Kepler space telescope observes a slight dimming of starlight, Space.com noted.
The conventional wisdom is that the signal is caused by a natural phenomena such as a swarm of comets or space debris. However, the star was observed to undergo irregularly shaped, aperiodic dips in flux, which led to the position that the signals are being blocked by alien-made megastructures, as HNGN previously reported.
The search for alien signals using the Allen Telescope Array is being spearheaded by the SETI Institute. "We are looking at it with the Allen Telescope Array," said Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at SETI, Science Alert reported. "I think we ought to, for sure," but that "[people] should perhaps moderate their enthusiasm with the lessons of history."
The telescope, which is essentially a radio interferometer, will not be looking at KIC 8462852. It will scan for radio signals, which is accepted as an excellent indication of intelligent alien broadcasts. The method involves combing through 9 billion channels within wavelengths that range from 1 to 10 Ghz.
