[ExI] If you follow the developments with Tabby's star . .

[Anders]

On 2016-09-14 21:24, spike wrote:
> Help us John Clark and Anders wan Kenobi!

Obi-Wan: [Pointing to a spot in the star hologram] This is where it 
ought to be, but it isn't. Gravity is pulling all the stars in this area 
inward to this spot. There should be a star here, but there isn't.
Yoda: Most interesting. Gravity's silhouette remains, but the star and 
all its planets have disappeared. How can this be?

OK, in this case we don't have gravity measurements - if we had 
microlensing things would be way clearer. And I doubt anybody has seen 
anything using the radial velocity method.

> That means Boyajian's star (I still prefer Tabby's star, but I will get over
> it) is closer than we thought, so there is more dimming than we thought, and
> the dimming by mere dust becomes less likely.  Reasoning: if dust around
> Tabby caused the dimming, it would have more IR signature, ja?

Yes. This is the strongest argument against a Dyson shell too - far too 
little IR.

-- 
Dr Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University