210: Chapter 210: The National Astronomical Institute Establishes a Special Investigation Team

Seven or eight people sat in the meeting room, all of whom were the backbone of various departments.

Some had a faint, amused smile on their faces, clearly treating it as a curiosity; others looked serious, feeling that the author of the paper had some level of skill.

"Director Wang, I'll start with something blunt," Director Liu of the Astronomical Observation Group began. "This J-Sphere concept sounds like something straight out of a science fiction novel—wrapping up a star and then controlling its brightness to make it invisible?"

"The idea is too far-fetched. Now he's packaged it into this seemingly rigorous framework called Formula J and brought it out again. If our observatory really follows the trend and researches this, I could find a third-rate sci-fi writer in private who could give me a bunch of formulas like this!"

Several older researchers followed with a nod.

Professor Zhang Qinian couldn't help but let a smile touch his lips; this expression was exactly the same as his own when he first met Xiaoyu's brother a few days ago.

He walked unhurriedly to the projector, plugged in a USB drive, and pulled up a star map.

"Director Liu is right; it does sound like science fiction." He paused for a few seconds before speaking again. "But what if I told you that, based on this sci-fi premise, when we go back and check the archives—within the Milky Way alone, in the past thirty years, there have been at least this many cases of documented stellar dimming events that cannot be explained by any existing models?"

He typed a number on the computer: 37.

The meeting room fell silent for a moment.

"Thirty-seven cases?" Researcher Zhao from the Data Processing Center subconsciously sat up straight. "Old Zhang, what do you mean by 'unexplainable'?"

Professor Zhang Qinian spoke:

"I mean cases where, after excluding all conventional possibilities such as planetary transits, dust cloud obscuration, stellar pulsations, and instrument errors, the light curves are still so bizarre that they don't look like natural phenomena."

Professor Zhang Qinian clicked the mouse and opened the first file.

"For example, this one: HD139139, TESS data from 2019. It showed 28 irregular, non-periodic rapid dimming events within 87 days, each lasting 2 to 5 hours, with brightness drops ranging from 5% to 25%."

"The authors of the paper themselves wrote, 'cannot be explained by known physical processes.'"

He clicked the mouse again to open the next one, and a star similar to the Sun appeared on the large screen.

"And this: EPIC204278916. This is a young star. In 2016, its brightness was observed to drop by 65% within 25 days. Note, 65%. After that, it slowly recovered."

"Models like dust disks or planetary debris belts ultimately calculate the size of the object blocking the star to be absurdly large and completely unrealistic. It's not something existing theories can explain."

Professor Zhang opened more files in succession, listing names that actually existed in astronomical databases.

"Look at this one, VY Canis Majoris, a red hypergiant much larger than the Sun."

"Historical records show that in the 19th and 20th centuries, it experienced several abnormal dimming events lasting several years, with its brightness at its lowest being only one-sixth of its usual level."

"Although the Hubble Space Telescope eventually attributed it to a massive dust eruption, such intense, long-lasting, and repeatedly cycling 'dimming-recovery' patterns are extremely rare in stars."

Having explained this much in one breath, he scanned the audience. Their expressions had shifted from mockery to intense focus.

"And there's a more classic case: Betelgeuse."

"From late 2019 to early 2020, its brightness suddenly dropped by more than 60% within a few weeks, shocking the global astronomical community!"

"Although subsequent comprehensive observations favored the combined effect of giant surface spots and dust clouds, at the time the event occurred, no model could accurately predict such a sudden change."

"Right before our eyes, it performed a 'lights out' drama that couldn't be understood on the spot."

"There are even some that seem regular but are actually even more baffling."

"For instance, the NGTS-7 system, where one star's brightness dims on time every 16.2 hours, as precise as a pendulum."

"It was eventually discovered that it might be a tidally locked brown dwarf orbiting in a close orbit."

"But such tight binary systems themselves are anomalies that challenge our theories of stellar formation and evolution."

"And perhaps what gives us in the industry the biggest headache are 'random transitors' like HD139139."

Professor Zhang Qinian pulled up the light curve from the last file, which was filled with data that had no discernible pattern.

"In continuous observations over 87 days, it dimmed rapidly and randomly 28 times, each lasting from tens of minutes to several hours, with varying depths of dimming."

"Research teams from the global astronomical community worked together and ruled out at least nine common natural explanations, including an 'impossible planetary array' requiring 19 planets of similar size with orbital periods all under 90 days."

"The authors' original words were: 'Their arrival times look as if they were generated by a random number generator.' Other than labeling them 'unexplainable,' we humans currently have no other recourse."

Professor Zhang spoke eloquently, providing specific evidence as he went.

Light curve graphs flashed across the screen one after another, each accompanied by a brief annotation:

[Anomaly], [Unexplainable], [Special Case]

Suddenly, the atmosphere in the meeting room changed.

The veteran experts, who previously had slight smirks on their faces, now kept their lips tightly shut.

These senior astronomical workers knew all too well that in the vast sea of data, 'unexplainable' usually meant one of two things!

1: Observation error.

2: Reaching the boundaries of current human astronomical knowledge.

If there were a third option, it would inevitably be... the handiwork of an intelligent civilization!

"Old Wang!" Director Wang asked with a serious expression, "Are you suggesting that these might not be natural phenomena?"

"Director Wang, I wouldn't dare make a definitive conclusion." Professor Zhang Qinian turned off the projector and looked at everyone, his gaze falling on their solemn faces. "But if we change our perspective—"},{

"If advanced civilizations really do have a general tendency to hide themselves, and if J-Spheres or similar structures actually exist, then these 'abnormal stellar dimming events' might just be the most logical and observable technical signatures!"

Finally, he pulled up a summary table listing the dimming characteristics of those 37 candidate targets.

"According to the estimation framework of Formula J, J himself said there are 20 intelligent civilizations, but based on calculations with the most realistic data, there could be 80 civilizations in the Milky Way that have mastered stellar-level energy manipulation technology."

"If we assume that one-tenth of these civilizations are currently building or have already completed some form of shielding structure!"

Professor Zhang Qinian looked at the candidate targets on his computer and then looked up.

"Then among these 37 abnormal targets, there might be several, or even a dozen, that aren't astronomical wonders at all, but rather...!!!"

He took a deep breath and said, word by word: "Neighbors."

As he finished, a dead silence fell over the meeting room.

Everyone gasped.

After a long time!

"Fuck!"

Someone swore under their breath.

Everyone looked at each other and began to whisper fervently; this was too far-fetched, and too terrifying!

They had spent half their lives in astronomy, looking at the stars like an eternal and beautiful painting of the night sky.

But now someone was telling them—no, there might be people hiding in that painting, and those anomalies they had recorded and couldn't figure out might just be what it looks like when someone else closes their windows.