Recently Jason T. Wright, the man who sparked a hurricane of clickbait headlines by suggesting KIC 8462852 would be an 'outstanding SETI target', gave a highly informative talk on artifact SETI, megastructures, and Tabby's Star.
Artifact SETI involves the search for artificial phenomena, like Dyson spheres and Niven rings, to narrow down targets for communication SETI to eavesdrop on extraterrestrials. The biggest clue for finding these artifacts is the waste heat given off during their creation and use. In addition to laying out the history of SETI in this vein, Jason tackles the problems with the megastructure hypothesis and why he's all but abandoned circumstellar explanations for something stranger.
Artifact SETI involves the search for artificial phenomena, like Dyson spheres and Niven rings, to narrow down targets for communication SETI to eavesdrop on extraterrestrials. The biggest clue for finding these artifacts is the waste heat given off during their creation and use. In addition to laying out the history of SETI in this vein, Jason tackles the problems with the megastructure hypothesis and why he's all but abandoned circumstellar explanations for something stranger.
