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Some strange and erratic light patterns on the star KIC 8462852 has made astronomers surmise that the huge megastructures were built by alien civilizations. However, in a recent study  by researchers at the SETI Institute, there was no evidence of flashes of extra-terrestrial laser pulses from the star.

The scientists also did not find any radio signals on it.

"The hypothesis of an alien megastructure around KIC 8462852 is rapidly crumbling apart," said Douglas Vakoch, one of the paper's authors. "We found no evidence of an advanced civilization beaming intentional laser signals toward Earth."

The exact distance of the star KIC 8462852 makes it necessary to use various detection methods in order to catch laser pulses, according to Phys.org.

"Given the large distance to KIC 8462852, nearly 1500 light-years, any signal received on Earth today would have left the star shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire," said Marlin Schuetz, one of the paper's authors. "We need a sensitive way to detect any laser pulses that have traveled that far."

With the help of a 0.5 m Newtonian telescope that has a unique detection method, enhancing its sensitivity to pulsed signals, the scientists tried to detect extra-terrestrial laser pulses sent towards the earth. Any such signals could have been identified if they were within the visible spectrum, but above the detection limit of the observatory.

"If some day we really detect a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization, we need to be ready to follow up at observatories around the world, as quickly as possible," said Vakoch.

The detection technique will be used in future by multiple observatories so that speedy follow-up detection can be conducted following the first few findings.