Astronomers and extra-terrestrial enthusiasts have turned their attention to a recently discovered oddly flickering star, which some believe is the site of megastructures built by aliens.
Space scientists from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in Mountain View, California have tapped a system of radio dishes to possibly locate aliens on the mysterious star called KIC 8462852.
This system of radio dishes, called the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) can probe the vicinity of KIC 8462852, which is located 1,481 light years or 5.8 trillion miles away from Earth.
Senior astronomer Seth Shostak of the California-based institute acknowledged that searching for alien life on the distant star is still worth the try, no matter how farfetched this theory may appear to some.
"No problem with that; I think we ought to, for sure, should perhaps moderate their enthusiasm with the lessons of history," Shostak said, as quoted by Space.com.
He added that the hunt for possible extraterrestrials on KIC 8462852 can still contribute to scientific knowledge, even if it fails.
The senior astronomer cited the example of pulsars or highly magnetised and rotating neutron stars, discovered in the 1960s after initially being suspected as alien transmissions.
"So history suggests we're going to find an explanation for this that doesn't involve Klingons, if you will," Shostak quipped, referring to characters in the science-fiction TV and movie series "Star Trek."
He further said this undertaking may even spot alien life somewhere else in outer space, even not on KIC 8462852
"It almost doesn't matter where you point your telescope, because there are planets everywhere," Shostak said. "If there's somebody out there, there are going to be so many of them out there that I do think there's a chance."
The KIC 8462852 was initially discovered by a citizen science programme at the Yale University using data from the Kepler Science Telescope. It fascinated space enthusiasts for its bizarre way of flickering, uncommon among similar old stars.
