Comets May Not Explain 'Alien Megastructure' Star's Strange Flickering After All

It's looking less likely that a swarm of comets or an "alien megastructure" can explain a faraway star's strange dimming. The star (nicknamed "Tabby's Star," after its discoverer, Tabetha Boyajian) made major headlines last October when Jason Wright, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University, suggested that it could be surrounded by some type of alien megastructure. Now, Bradley Schaefer, an astronomer at Louisiana State University, has probed the star's behavior over the past century by lo