It's likely very much easier to build a telescope array in this solar system than to send a telescope "a couple solar systems away". KIC 8462852 is 1480 light

It's likely very much easier to build a telescope array in this solar system than to send a telescope "a couple solar systems away". KIC 8462852 is 1480 light years away. At 10% light speed it would take over 10,000 years to get within a few solar systems of the star. On the other hand, a space-based interferometer with a baseline of 15 AU would have an angular resolution of: 1.22 * 500 nm / (15 AU) = 2.7E-19 radians giving the ability to see things at KIC 8462852 which are 1480 light years * 2.7E-19 = 3 meters across That's also fantastically advanced, but working backwards, to see objects 100km in size: (1.22 * 500 nm) / (100km / 1480 light years) = ~100,000 km I think we can pull that off within 1,000 years, much less 10,000.