KIC_8462852

that is an interesting idea! If there was a message, it shouldnt take much to decode it (if they were smart!). We shoud search for evidence of prime numbers :)

Very cool animation! not totally crazy! such a complex system would show evidence of any putative stellar mass companions in the ground based spectrum and spectral energy distribution. All we see is the presence of one star.

we are taking data in several different 'colors' of light. When we catch it ipping again, the shapes and dip depths will be able to tell us what the orbiting material is made out of.

Planet hunters is one of the many projects under the zooniverse project. It has been going since 2010, and since then we have found several dozen planets that have been missed in automated search pipelines! These discoveries no only help the completeness of the planets discovered by the Kepler mission, but also help inform the automated pipelines where improvements can be made (why did such a plant fall through the cracks?). For me, I think it is so inspiring to see the real science that can be done with CS in this way. Having a place to talk about science with the public and get everyone involved is so valuable!

we love your questions! Actually, we just got news that our radio SETI proposal to observe this star with the greenbank telescope was awarded 25 hours of time!