Is this suspicious star harboring aliens?

Far away from home, well, about 1,500 light-years away from Earth, a very specific star has caught the eye of astronomers. They speculate that possibility of alien life around a star named KIC 8462852 (better known as Tabby's Star or Boyajian's Star).

The reason for this hypothesis is due to an odd behavior. Every now and then, Tabby's Star dims by as much as 22 percent. What’s baffling is that the extreme dimming did not follow a constant pattern. The dips varied in duration, as though the star was blinking fast and slow. For a star of its size and age, this could be termed as, unprecedented behavior. Additionally, Tabby’s Star seems to have gotten dramatically darker over the past century too.

Astronomer Jason Wright points out that that these light patterns are similar to what we might expect, if aliens built a complex of machines around the star to harvest its energy.

In an effort to investigate further, the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia will point its large dish towards Tabby's Star to listen for radio communications of any aliens potentially living there. This giant radio telescope is said to be the biggest of its kind, with a 330-foot-wide parabolic dish, making it the largest steerable telescope on our planet.

The star was discovered by American astronomer Tabetha Boyajian, has teamed up with Breakthrough Listen project to search for radio waves around the mysterious star. This might be the most intense search for alien life, till date.

Breakthrough Listen is also working with several radio telescopes around the globe, including the Green Bank Telescope which will be used to listen for alien life around the KIC 8462852. The star will be reportedly observed for eight hours per night on three separate nights, over the next two months.