Photo, left:  KIC 8462852 (also Tabby's Star) is an F-type main-sequence star located in the constellation Cygnus approximately 454 parsecs (1,480 ly) from Earth. Unusual light fluctuations of the star were discovered by citizen scientists as part of the Planet Hunters project, and in September 2015 astronomers and citizen scientists associated with the project posted a preprint of a paper on arXiv describing the data and possible interpretations. The discovery was made from data collected by the Kepler space telescope, which observes changes in the brightness of distant stars to detect exoplanets.
Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the star's large irregular changes in brightness as measured by its unusual light curve, but none have fully explained all aspects of the curve. The leading hypothesis, based on a lack of observed infrared light, posits a swarm of cold, dusty comet fragments in a highly eccentric orbit.[5][6][7] Another hypothesis is that of a large number of small masses in "tight formation" orbiting the star. It has been speculated that the changes in brightness could be signs of activity associated with intelligent extraterrestrial life constructing a Dyson swarm. The SETI Institute's initial radio reconnaissance of KIC 8462852, however, so far has found no evidence of technology-related radio signals from the star.
The concept of the Dyson sphere was the result of a thought experiment by physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson, when he theorized that all technological civilizations constantly increased their demand for energy. He reasoned that if human civilization expanded energy demands long enough, there would come a time when it demanded the total energy output of the Sun. He proposed a system of orbiting structures (which he referred to initially as a shell) designed to intercept and collect all energy produced by the Sun. Dyson's proposal did not detail how such a system would be constructed, but focused only on issues of energy collection, on the basis that such a structure could be distinguished by its unusual emission spectrum in comparison to a star. His 1960 paper "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infra-Red Radiation", published in the journal Science, is credited with being the first to formalize the concept of the Dyson sphere.
First reported in September 2015 by Tabetha S. Boyajian, then a postdoc at Yale University, Tabby’s star – more properly called KIC 8462852 – had been flagged by citizen scientists because of its unusual pattern of dimming. These volunteers were looking at stars as part of the internet project Planet Hunters, which allows the public to search for planets around other stars in data taken by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, which has been monitoring 150,000 stars for regular dimming that might indicate a planet had passed in front of it.
But while most such dimming by transiting planets is brief and regular and blocks just 1 or 2 per cent of the light of the star, Tabby’s star dims for days at a time, by as much as 22 per cent, and at irregular intervals.
While Boyajian speculated in her 2015 paper that the irregular dimming might be explained by a swarm of comets breaking up as it approached the star, subsequent observations show the star, which is located about 1,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus, is far more irregular than a comet swarm would produce. In fact, it seems to have been dimming at a steady rate for the past century.
Speculation eventually arose that the dimming was caused by a Dyson structure: a massive orbiting array of solar collectors that the physicist Freeman Dyson once proposed would be a natural thing for a civilization to build as it needed more and more energy to power itself. Theoretically, such a structure could completely surround the star – what he termed a Dyson sphere – and capture nearly all the star’s energy.  
Drawing, left:  A relatively simple arrangement of multiple Dyson rings of the type pictured above, to form a more complex Dyson swarm. Rings' orbital radii are spaced 1.5×107 km with regard to one another, but average orbital radius is still 1 AU. Rings are rotated 15 degrees relative to one another, around a common axis of rotation.
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board & host of Opinion Journal on WSJ Video. Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents.
 
Hour One
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 1, Block A: David Drucker, Washington Examiner, in re: In Utah (six Electoral votes)  . . . Evan McMullin advocates a new conservative movement.   . . . I can still see the possibility of Trump’s winning by a few points . . .  Evan McMullin made Utah a presidential battleground. Next, he'll try to transform conservative politics  Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin is gaining traction in Utah in his bid to ...
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 1, Block B: 
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 1, Block C: Lev Golinkin, author, A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka, in re:  Lev arrived  in the US as a nine-year-old child with his parents, all refugees from Kiev in the Soviet Union, on what it's like to be a refugee in a new country with no grasp of the new language. . . .  Some people equate an inability to speak a language fluently with being stupid, which is extremely daunting to the newcomer.  . .  We came from beyond enemy lines, from the al Qaeda and ISIS of our day; but many [Westerners] understood that being form a place wasn’t he same as being like the [diabolical leaders].  What to do?  Please slow down, not louder (we’re not deaf), and try not to show judgmental frustration, which goes a long way to boost confidence and cheer. We long remember the people who treated us kindly. 
   The Trump prank is about deepening the alternate reality of his loyalists, many of whom mostly boast and laugh.  See that 60% of Republicans believe illegal immigrants will be voting. Trump is telling supporters to "watch the polls," which is putting a target on anyone with an accent.
--- I doubt my mother would pass the “extreme vetting” process Donald Trump has in mind for refugees seeking a new life in the United States. After 26 years in this country, she still speaks with a heavy accent, misplaces tenses, mumbles. She doesn’t know the Pledge of Allegiance. Her job as a night security guard requires staying awake and making sure the doors stay locked, the perfect position for an immigrant like her.
Before coming to America, Mom was a psychiatrist, working in a busy clinic in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The city’s population was more than a million, but after 30 years as a doctor, she couldn’t run an errand without bumping into a former patient or grateful family member. It used to annoy me as a child, and I’d tug on her arm, impatient to move on. Once we came to the United States, that was no longer a problem.
We know a handful of ex-Soviet refugees with medical degrees who managed to remain doctors once they came to the United States. Most didn’t. They landed at JFK airport; they received three months’ assistance from a refugee resettlement group, secondhand furniture and driving lessons, if they were lucky; and then the bills came. Medical boards and years of sleepless residency are a gantlet for 20-somethings who speak fluent English and have no children. Mom was pushing 50, had no money and couldn’t speak the language. At first she tried to become a nurse, then a nursing aide, then an EKG technician. The closest she got to returning to the medical field was a stint helping an old woman take her meds.  . . .  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/my-mother-is-vetted-every-day-of-her-life/2016/10/21/d0d84220-918e-11e6-9c52-0b10449e33c4_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-f%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.07d5271428d1
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 1, Block D: Mona Charen, NRO, in re:  on the GOP civil war.  Mary and I are Republicans; it's difficult to organize around the present GOP candidate, so Mary and Mona Charen and I will play a game.  I know the NeoCons, the Republicons, the liberal Republicans, the Evangelicals, and the many factions —Mona: btw, we call that battle “Manassas.”  The Paul Ryan wing of the GOP
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/10/20/donald-trump-third-debate-gop-future-max-boot/92471738/ ; http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-10-26/ryan-likely-to-survive-trump-while-presidential-hopes-tarnished
 
Hour Two
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:  Boris Zilberman, FDD, in re:  Russia
·         http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-ceasefire-aleppo-syria-2016-10
·         http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/27/the-u-s-cyber-war-with-russia-will-wait-for-president-hillary-clinton.html
·         http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/how-the-russian-military-reestablished-itself-in-the-middle-east
·         http://www.janes.com/article/64929/russia-s-new-submarine-mothership-sets-sail#.WBIN-qj5yVA.twitter
·         http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/moscows-show-force-russian-naval-aviation-goes-war-18134
Boris leads FDD’s Russia work as part of the Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance which focuses on the evolving financial and strategic developments in the US-Russia relationship. Prior to joining FDD, Boris spent five years working as Manager of Defense Programs in the policy and government affairs department at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 2, Block B:  Mike Singh, Washington Institute, in re: China’s relations in the Middle East; Iran.   . . .  China’s interest is significantly in oil; where major economic interests reside, diplomacy and soldiers tend to follow. . . .  Chinese-Turkish trade has exploded; Erdogan spoke of buying Chinese missile (despite its being a NATO member).  China and Egypt – where Egypt needs everything.  China will do infrastructure investment and send workers; Egypt likes China’s “one belt-one road” network from China to Europe.
Terrorist attacks in China, in SE Asia, in Central Asia, linked to populations inside China, so Beijing pursues counterterrorism operations globally.
•    Regional Powers Grow Uneasy with Palestinian Leader
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab states are piling pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resolve divisions in his Fatah party and with the rival Hamas movement. In a non-binding paper circulated last month, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates made recommendations for tackling the splits.
    Mouin Rabbani, a senior fellow with the Institute for Palestine Studies, said, "The primary reasons are Abbas' systematic mismanagement of such relationships, and a weakness of leadership that has opened greater opportunities for Arab and foreign interference in Palestinian internal affairs."
    In a clear signal of its growing frustration, Saudi Arabia, which normally provides around $20 million a month to the Palestinian budget, has not made any contributions since April. Palestinian officials say Riyadh is withholding the funds because it first wants to see progress on unity within Fatah and with Hamas. (Reuters-New York Times)
•    Israel: Ancient Papyrus Supports Jewish Claim to Jerusalem - Jeffrey Heller and Rinat Harash
Israeli archaeologists have made public a fragment of an ancient text which they say is the earliest Hebrew reference to Jerusalem outside the Bible - evidence of the Jewish connection to the holy city. The 11 cm by 2.5 cm piece of papyrus, dated by the Israel Antiquities Authority to the 7th century BCE, was presented at a news conference in Jerusalem shortly after UNESCO adopted a resolution that Israel said denied Judaism's link to the ancient city. Two lines of ancient Hebrew script appear on the fragile artifact. It reads: "From the king's maidservant, from Na'arat, jars of wine, to Jerusalem."  (Reuters)
Iranian General Soleimani in Mosul for Campaign Against ISIS
Commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Maj.-Gen. Qassem Soleimani has arrived at the Popular Forces operations room to serve as a military advisor in the campaign against ISIS in Mosul, Iraq, Arab media reported on Wednesday. Washington has been pressuring Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi not to allow the Popular Forces to participate in the Mosul operation.
    Spokesman of the Iraqi Popular Forces Ahmad al-Assadi said, "Hajj Qassem Soleimani is one of the most important military advisors of the Islamic Republic of Iran who is in Iraq at the invitation, demand and agreement of the Iraqi government." In June, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ebrahim al-Jafari was quoted as saying, "General Soleimani is in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government to provide military counseling to the Iraqi forces."  (Fars-Iran)
·         http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/is-turkey-pivoting-to-china
·         http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/3-factors-for-the-u.s.-to-consider-in-assessing-irans-role-in-yemen-attacks
·         http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/schanzer-jonathan-in-the-long-term-china-is-not-alliance-material-for-israel/
Michael Singh is the Lane-Swig Senior Fellow and managing director at The Washington Institute and a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council.  During his tenure at the White House from 2005 to 2008, Mr. Singh was responsible for devising and coordinating U.S. national security policy toward the region stretching from Morocco to Iran, with a particular emphasis on Iran’s nuclear and regional activities, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Syria, and security cooperation in the broader Middle East. Previously, Mr. Singh served as special assistant to secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell and at the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 2, Block C:  Jonathan Schanzer, FDD, in re: Israeli-Palestinian relations : recent Pal aggression.  Observers eye the Obama Administration for intending to make dramatic moves immediately after the election to accomplish goals previously unmet before 20 January.  Six likely White House endeavors are proposed:
1. Palestinian statehood? Hitherto always rejected at the UN, but Abbas aide says this is the time for Pres Obama to do it.
2. Reframe Res 242 (which originally was intentionally written vaguely) —Pres Obama considering making Israeli settlements illegal
3. A limited resolution against settlements: set the stage for delegitimization of Israel
4. Rose Garden speech: Obama’s vision of a Palestinian state
5. Sanctions via Executive Order (militated against by other occupations: Morocco of Western Sahara; Turkey of Northern Cyprus; China of disputed territories).
6. IRS regulations.
 These would set the table for antagonism between a future Clinton Adm, which Mrs Clinton would not want.
·         https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/10/25/obama-shouldn-tie-his-successor-hands-israeli-palestinian-peace-process/MMTHuQWkMLdHIUwICOecVN/story.html
·         http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-meets-heads-of-rival-hamas-in-qatar/
·         http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Palestinian-rivals-Mideast-regional-powers-grow-uneasy-with-Abbas-470969
Since joining us in February 2010, Dr. Schanzer has been singularly focused on ensuring that FDD deliver not only accurate and timely research, but also research that is useful to decision makers inside the Beltway, across America, and around the world.  Dr. Schanzer is part of the leadership team of FDD’s Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance, which provides policy and subject matter expertise on the use of financial and economic power to the global policy community. Prior, he worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he played an integral role in the designation of numerous terrorist financiers. 
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 2, Block D:  Eric Trager, Washington Institute,  & Arab Fall author, in re: Egypt.   . . . The seeds of the Itkhwan’s —Morsi’s— failure were always present; the Muslim Brotherhood still doesn't see why.  The reason the MB won out of Tahrir Square was that it was the best-organized group in Egypt; but once it achieved power, it had no policy in place, at all.  After eighty years of agitprop, they had no answers.  Didn't understand what it took to govern, couldn’t bring in other sectors of society, and didn't even realize it was failing.
Now its hierarchical structure has been decapitated, and also at provincial and local levels. 
The Obama Adm did not have Eric’s reporting, but continued to treat the MB as though it would continue to rule, and thereby gave the impression across all Arab countries that Washington actively supported the Muslim Brotherhood.
Saudis are much anti-Assad, as a pawn of Iran, which intends to destroy Saudi Arabia; but Cairo sees Assad as fighting some of the same problems el Sisi is dealing with.   Egypt doesn't see Iran the way the Saudis and Emiratis do, not having a history of anti-Shi’ism in Egypt.
·         http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-truth-about-egypts-revolution-1477081280
·         http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/a-familiar-pattern-in-egypts-spat-with-saudi-arabia
·         http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/world/middleeast/egyptian-army-officer-killed-outside-home-militant-group-is-suspected.html?_r=1
·         http://www.aei.org/publication/invite-egypts-sisi-to-the-white-house/?utm_source=paramount&utm_medium=email&utm_content=AEITODAY&utm_campaign=102516
Eric Trager, the Esther K. Wagner Fellow at The Washington Institute, is an expert on Egyptian politics and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. He was in Egypt during the 2011 anti-Mubarak revolts and returns frequently to conduct firsthand interviews with leaders in Egypt's government, military, political parties, media, and civil society. Trager is the author of Arab Fall: How the Muslim Brotherhood Won and Lost Egypt in 891 Days (Georgetown University Press, 2016), which chronicles the precipitate rise to power of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, culminating in the election of President Mohamed Morsi in 2012, and its sudden demise just a year later.
 
Hour Three
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 3, Block A:  Yaya Fanusie, FDD, in re: Illicit finance, Bitcoin and terrorists: found the first verifiable example of terrorists’ using bitcoin – Mujahideen Shura Council, support for ISIS; used infographics to ask for funding via social media. We fund two transactions, $600; after a month it was gone.  Extreme audacity – still posting, soliciting, for weeks; twitter shut them down and up they’d pop again, including currently.
Ibn Tabniya Media Center: slick, glossy, bomb-making vids; and “equip us” campaign. Using very savvy production. One goal is to target Israel and kill Jews: one of the slick graphics has pix of four rockets – Katyusha, BM21, and two others; ”this rocket has __ range and will kill _ Jews; for $200” – with a bitcoin address.  Bitcoin has an open platform where you can’t see a person’s identity, but can see the transaction. 
·         http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/yaya-j-fanusie-as-territory-shrinks-is-group-looks-for-new-money-sources/
·         http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/yaya-j-fanusie-the-new-frontier-in-terror-fundraising-bitcoin/
·         http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/hezbollahs-criminal-networks-useful-idiots-henchmen-and-organized-criminal
·         http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/irans-resistance-economy-and-stalled-reform-efforts
Yaya J. Fanusie is the director of analysis for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance (CSIF). Yaya spent seven years as both an economic and counterterrorism analyst in the CIA, where he regularly briefed White House-level policy makers, U.S. military personnel, and federal law enforcement. In 2008, he personally briefed President George W. Bush on terrorism threats, and in 2009, he spent three months in Afghanistan providing analytic support to senior military officials. After government service, Yaya worked with a small consulting firm, where he led a team of analysts working on a multi-billion-dollar recovery effort involving a global corruption ring. Most recently, he has operated his own consulting practice training firms specializing in strategic analysis and business due-diligence.  Yaya received an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in Economics from UC Berkeley.
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 3, Block B: Malcolm  Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:  Indiana Hoenlein. 
Also: in Jaffa, a battle from thousands of years ago; a famous gate – Rameses Gate built by pharaohs in1460 BC; dug four meters more and found a whole new level. 
Balfour Declaration, in England and also in Russia (Kerensky); it welcomed Palestine, then a part of the failing Ottoman Empire.  Palestinians now decide to sue England for having issued the Balfour Declaration and demand an apology from the House of Lords.  Consonant with declaring that Jerusalem has never been a Jewish city.  Astounding.  (See: entire Old Testament.)
..  ..   .. 
Israeli archaeologists have made public a fragment of an ancient text which they say is the earliest Hebrew reference to Jerusalem outside the Bible - a discovery the government swiftly enlisted as evidence of the Jewish connection to the holy city.
The 11 cm by 2.5 cm (4.3 by one inch) piece of papyrus, dated by the Israel Antiquities Authority to the 7th century B.C., was presented at a news conference in Jerusalem shortly after Paris-based UNESCO adopted a resolution that Israel said denied Judaism's link to the ancient city.
Two lines of ancient Hebrew script on the fragile and faded artifact suggest it was part of a document detailing the payment of taxes or transfer of goods to storehouses in Jerusalem.
"From the king's maidservant, from Na'arat, jars of wine, to Jerusalem," it reads.
The Antiquities Authority said its investigators had recovered the document, described as "the earliest extra-biblical source to mention Jerusalem in Hebrew writing", after it was plundered from a cave by antiquities robbers.
For Israel's government, the papyrus is a rebuttal to UNESCO, the UN scientific and cultural organization, which is regarded by many Israelis as hostile. Arab members of UNESCO and their supporters frequently condemn Israel.
"Hey UNESCO, an ancient papyrus dating to the 1st Temple 2700 yrs ago has been found. It bears the oldest known mention of Jerusalem in Hebrew," Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote on Twitter.
Emmanuel Nahshon, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, called Wednesday's vote in Paris by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee "a piece of rubbish".
The resolution, according to a text provided by Palestinian officials, refers to a Jerusalem compound - revered by Jews as Temple Mount and by Muslims as Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) - only as a "Muslim holy site of worship".
Two weeks ago, Israel lashed out at UNESCO for renewing a similar resolution that condemned it for restrictions on Muslim access to the site, in a part of Jerusalem captured by Israeli forces in a 1967 war.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem as its capital, a position that is not recognized internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"The discovery of the papyrus on which the name of our capital Jerusalem is written is further tangible evidence that Jerusalem was and will remain the eternal capital of the Jewish people," said Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev, in comments included in an Antiquities Authority announcement of the find.
Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, accused Israel of waging an campaign of "archaeological claims and distortion of facts"* to try to cement its claim to the holy city.
*[Hilarious. Dig up a verified antiquity and have it vetted by the most competent archaeologists in the world.  Then claim that it’s bogus, that the archaeologists are all lying, and it's merely a conspiracy to damage Mahmoud Abbas, who’s currently in his eleventh year of a four-year term {rather like Sudan, Uzbekistan, and other charmingly nondemocratic regimes}. –ed.]
Israel: Ancient Papyrus Supports Jewish Claim to Jerusalem 
Israeli archaeologists have made public a fragment of an ancient text which they say is the earliest Hebrew reference to Jerusalem outside the Bible - evidence of the Jewish connection to the holy city. The 11 cm by 2.5 cm piece of papyrus, dated by the Israel Antiquities Authority to the 7th century BCE, was presented at a news conference in Jerusalem shortly after UNESCO adopted a resolution that Israel said denied Judaism's link to the ancient city. Two lines of ancient Hebrew script appear on the fragile artifact. It reads: "From the king's maidservant, from Na'arat, jars of wine, to Jerusalem."  (Reuters
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 3, Block C: Hotel Mars, episode n.  Anatoly Zak, RussianSpaceWeb.com, & author, Russia in Space, The Past Explained, the Future Explored, in re: By October 24, engineers narrowed down a possible culprit to an error in the software of the Schiaparelli's Doppler radar altimeter, which misled the main computer into thinking that the spacecraft had already reached the landing altitude. The radar software apparently froze and failed to respond to the queries from the guidance and navigation computer, leading to the premature release of the parachute. Then, the operation system decided that the lander had reached the surface and switched off the engines.
On October 27, Rolf Densing, the Head of the European mission control center in Darmstadt, Germany, was quoted in German media as saying that some unexpected movement of the parachute could confuse the flight control system into thinking that the landing had already taken place. This phenomenon apparently manifested itself during only a few out of the thousands of tests, but it was considered so unlikely that no action was deemed necessary to negate it.  (1 of 2) http://www.russianspaceweb.com/exomars2016-edm-landing.html#1024
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 3, Block D:   Hotel Mars, episode n.  Anatoly Zak, RussianSpaceWeb.com, & author, Russia in Space, The Past Explained, the Future Explored (2 of 2)
  
Hour Four
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 4, Block A: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re:   First reported in September 2015 by Boyajian, then a postdoc at Yale University, Tabby’s star – more properly called KIC 8462852 – had been flagged by citizen scientists because of its unusual pattern of dimming. These volunteers were looking at stars as part of the internet project Planet Hunters, which allows the public to search for planets around other stars in data taken by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, which has been monitoring 150,000 stars for regular dimming that might indicate a planet had passed in front of it.
But while most such dimming by transiting planets is brief and regular and blocks just 1 or 2 per cent of the light of the star, Tabby’s star dims for days at a time, by as much as 22 per cent, and at irregular intervals.
While Boyajian speculated in her 2015 paper that the irregular dimming might be explained by a swarm of comets breaking up as it approached the star, subsequent observations show the star, which is located about 1,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus, is far more irregular than a comet swarm would produce. In fact, it seems to have been dimming at a steady rate for the past century.
Speculation eventually arose that the dimming was caused by a Dyson structure: a massive orbiting array of solar collectors that the physicist Freeman Dyson once proposed would be a natural thing for a civilization to build as it needed more and more energy to power itself. Theoretically, such a structure could completely surround the star – what he termed a Dyson sphere – and capture nearly all the star’s energy.  (1 of 4)
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 4, Block B:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com (2 of 4)
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 4, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com (3 of 4)
Thursday  27 October 2016 / Hour 4, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com (4 of 4 )
..  ..  ..