Scientists from various prestigious universities using data from the Kepler telescope have quite reasonably theorised they may have discovered an alien megastructure in a galaxy far away.
It's by Star KIC 8462852, which, of course, we're all very familiar with as one of the 150,000 stars Kepler regularly monitors.
The scientists have detected a highly unusual irregularity orbiting the star. Unlike every other planet proved to exist, this big orbiting thing isn't spherical. It might not be a planet at all.
They have considered whether it might be a debris field from a planetary collision. They wondered if it could be a collection of comets.
"Aliens should always be the very last hypothesis you consider, but this looked like something you would expect an alien civilisation to build," one of the researchers told the Atlantic.
Fantasies abound. One of my (nerdier) colleagues hypothesises it might be the Star Trek Starfleet.
The data has been handed over to a group that investigates extraterrestrial life, although proving the existence of the Starfleet isn't as easy as getting the Kepler to just zoom in.
Imagine how tantalising it'll be if in years to come we have the technology to prove that an alien megastructure exists just 1500 light years away, but we haven't got the technology to communicate or travel that far.
The truth, no doubt, is out there.
But having analysed all the data I'm pretty sure I've figured it out.
An alien megastructure on the outskirts of space? It's another Bunnings Warehouse.
Jack Tame is on Newstalk ZB, Saturdays, 9am-midday.
