01-20-2017, 01:35 PM
Interesting. The star gets weirder and weirder.
A long-term dimming trend is exciting at first blush, as it would correlate to continued construction of a Dyson swarm. However, a Dyson swarm under construction would be accompanied by an increase in infrared radiation, and there seems to be no such increase. It appears to be dimming all the way across the spectrum. and the RATE at which it's dimming has shown fluctuations on the years-to-months scale - sometimes fast, other times slow. But while its brightness is up and down in the short term, it seems to be always dimming in the long term.
So.... what is a chaotic process (it would have to be chaotic, otherwise we'd see more patterns) natural process that could reduce the mass of a star in the long run, or block its radiation at an increasing rate? Without a corresponding infrared increase, it has to be at a substantial distance from the star. But if it's at a substantial distance from the star it's got to be a whole lot of unbelievably large somethingorothers.
Hmmm.... what if there's a big reflective somethingorother with flat planar surfaces (crystal lattices break on planar surfaces) that's tumbling chaotically (implying at least two other orbiting bodies in mutual orbit) and sometimes reflecting additional light back at us? But over the very long run the reflective surface is decaying (or going matte) due to microimpacts and ionizing radiation? That would be.... Hmm. That would have spectral absorption lines for the crystalline element. Anybody know whether they've got a good set of spectral data?
A long-term dimming trend is exciting at first blush, as it would correlate to continued construction of a Dyson swarm. However, a Dyson swarm under construction would be accompanied by an increase in infrared radiation, and there seems to be no such increase. It appears to be dimming all the way across the spectrum. and the RATE at which it's dimming has shown fluctuations on the years-to-months scale - sometimes fast, other times slow. But while its brightness is up and down in the short term, it seems to be always dimming in the long term.
So.... what is a chaotic process (it would have to be chaotic, otherwise we'd see more patterns) natural process that could reduce the mass of a star in the long run, or block its radiation at an increasing rate? Without a corresponding infrared increase, it has to be at a substantial distance from the star. But if it's at a substantial distance from the star it's got to be a whole lot of unbelievably large somethingorothers.
Hmmm.... what if there's a big reflective somethingorother with flat planar surfaces (crystal lattices break on planar surfaces) that's tumbling chaotically (implying at least two other orbiting bodies in mutual orbit) and sometimes reflecting additional light back at us? But over the very long run the reflective surface is decaying (or going matte) due to microimpacts and ionizing radiation? That would be.... Hmm. That would have spectral absorption lines for the crystalline element. Anybody know whether they've got a good set of spectral data?