We're not saying it's aliens, but I also can't tell you it's definitely not aliens.

Late last week, astronomers around the world prepared to work through the weekend observing one of the most enigmatic stars known to humanity: KIC 8462852, better known as Tabby's Star, Boyajian's Star or the "alien megastructures star." Amateur and pro star watchers trained telescopes on the star some 1,400 light-years away, and now we're able to get an early look at those observations and take a few tiny, tentative steps toward solving the mystery of this very weird star.

The alert went out on Friday that the odd dips in the brightness of the star first discovered in Kepler data via a crowdsourced effort were happening once again -- these dips have yet to be explained, giving rise to all sorts of theories, including far-out ideas like huge megastructures built by an advanced alien civilization. Astrophysicist Tabetha Boyajian, who led the citizen science project and for whom the star is named, predicted last year that the star's brightness might dip again as soon as May 2017.

When her prediction began to come true last week, she notified major observatories and amateur astronomy groups via social media and other channels, and many swung their lenses in the direction of the constellation Cygnus and the mysterious star.

By Sunday, we were beginning to learn more about the latest "dimming event" going on with KIC 8462852.