Search For Alien Civilization Near Mysterious Star Is Ongoing

So the search is "officially on". Scientists begin the search for the "hypothesized alien civilization" near the mysterious star called KIC 8462852. The hunt began when the scientists started using the Allen Telescope Array (ATA), a system of radio dishes created for astronomical research and for intelligent alien life. They did it in order to find radio signals from the star about 1,500 light-years away.

Scientists detect unusual transit signals in images of the KIC 8462852, which happens when an exoplanet or object happens to drift before the star and the Kepler space telescope is able to detect a slight dimming of starlight, according to Space.com.

The signal is not due to "natural phenomena such as a swarm of comets or space debris" as thought, but it goes through uneven, aperiodic dips in flux, blocking the signals from alien-made megastructures.

Hence, the hunt for the signals is conducted with the Allen Telescope Array, 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, fundamentally a radio interferometer, will not probe KIC 8462852, but will search only for radio signals that indicate intelligent alien broadcasts.

Hence, the techniques would involve investigating 9 billion channels within wavelengths that range from 1 to 10 Ghz.