Tabetha Boyajian:
The most mysterious star in the universe

TED2016 · 13:46 · Filmed Feb 2016
Watch next...
Freeman Dyson: Let's look for life in the outer solar system
arrow

Share this idea

2,584,870
Total views
TED Talks are free
thanks to support from

Something massive, with roughly 1,000 times the area of Earth, is blocking the light coming from a distant star known as KIC 8462852, and nobody is quite sure what it is. As astronomer Tabetha Boyajian investigated this perplexing celestial object, a colleague suggested something unusual: Could it be an alien-built megastructure? Such an extraordinary idea would require extraordinary evidence. In this talk, Boyajian gives us a look at how scientists search for and test hypotheses when faced with the unknown.

Astronomer
Tabetha Boyajian is best known for her research on KIC 8462852, a puzzling celestial body that has inspired otherwise sober scientists to brainstorm outlandish hypotheses. Full bio
This talk was presented at an official TED conference, and was featured by our editors on the home page.

Discuss

154 comments

Enthusiastically agree? Respectfully beg to differ? Have your say here.

2000 characters remaining
Don't have an account? Sign up now — it's fast and free.
Sort comments by
There are currently no comments for this talk.