The force has not quite awakened yet

It does seem like hopes have been dashed of yet another truth-is-stranger-than-science-fiction event, as the Kepler space telescope has apparently not actually detected evidence of the star-dimming skills of an alien civilisation flourishing a mere 1,500 light years away. A gargantuan, energyaccumulating ‘ Dyson’s swarm’ of interconnected solar panels floating in outer space and actually reducing a star’s brightness by as much as 20% at a time would certainly have provided inspiration for a flurry of sci-fi blockbusters. Even the news of such corroborative ‘evidence’ of a technologically advanced culture somewhere out there would have been hailed for its perfect timing — Star Wars: The Force Awakens is due to premiere next month.

True, the fact that astronomers have not been able to come up with a more plausible answer to why KIC 8462852 dims at regular intervals holds out some hope for sci-fi enthusiasts. Stargazers can be forgiven for being underwhelmed by the relatively boring suggestion of some experts that fragments of a disintegrated comet could be the cause of the dark(ening) deed — despite the absence of cometary dust. Other possibilities, such as enormous floating space habitats or planet-sized orbs designed to beam signals to other galactic inhabitants, sound far more promising.