New information from the ongoing research into the potential for alien megastructures surrounding star KIC 8462852 found that cold comets were the likely cause of the unusual light patterns, according to The Independent. The infrared data does not show any evidence that supports the two other leading theories, planetary impact or asteroid collisions.
If cold comets are the cause of the unusual light patterns, scientists say that they are most likely on a long, strange orbit and were in front of the star back in 2011 when the unique picture was taken. However, they were likely in a new location when the new 2015 infrared data was taken.
"This is a very strange star," said Massimo Marengo, who led the study. "It reminds me of when we first discovered pulsars. They were emitting odd signals nobody had ever seen before, and the first one discovered was named LGM-1 after 'Little Green Men.'"
Despite current evidence pointing to cold comets as the best explanation, it is still too early to completely rule out alien megastructures, according to the Iowa State University press release.
"We didn't look for that," said Marengo. "We can't really say it is, or is not. But what the star is doing is very strange. It's interesting when you have phenomena like that - typically it means there's some new physical explanation or a new concept to be discovered."
The possibility of alien megastructures surrounding star KIC 8462852 has led many to believe that one of them could be a Dyson Sphere, a hypothetical megastructure that would be able to harness the star's energy, according to the Mirror.
