Scientists Say They Know How to Find Dyson Rings—and Supercharge the Search for Aliens

New methods could uncover hidden megastructures in distant stellar systems.

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New methods could uncover hidden megastructures in distant stellar systems. Astronomers can learn a lot about a distant stellar system by observing its host star. For instance, the type of star (or even number of stars) can help determine probability of life in that particular system. But telescopes also divine the planetary details of these systems by looking at a star’s light curve. When analyzing light coming from a star, any dip in that curve suggests that an object (often a planet) is in transit around the giant ball of gas. Thousands of exoplanets throughout the galaxy have been found using this method, which is aptly called the transit method. However, the characteristics of a star’s light curve could have even more profound implications—for example, a dip could be caused by megastructures constructed by an ultra-advanced alien civilization. The most well-known of these theoretical megastructures is the Dyson sphere. First proposed by Freeman Dyson in the 1960s, this sphere essentially encases a star in a cocoon of energy-gathering technology, providing all the voracious energy needs of a Type-II civilization. Because such a structure would likely have a radius of around one astronomical unit (the distance from the Earth to our Sun), scientists estimate that there wouldn’t be enough material in one entire stellar system to construct such an object. However, Dyson rings—a kind of vast array of energy-gathering satellites—could be theoretically feasible. Now, a new study led by Ogetay Kayali at the Michigan Technological University details how astronomers can expand the search for these Dyson ring-induced dips in light curves by identifying previously unknown features of the light signatures of stars. The results of the study were published earlier this month in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. As fantastical as this may sound, it’s not a new idea. For years, the strange flickering characteristics of KIC 8462852—also known as Tabby’s star—led some experts to consider an artificial explanation. But, in 2019, scientists largely came to the consensus that this behavior was caused by clouds of dust and/or comet fragments. Earlier this year, scientists from Uppsala University in Sweden theorized that a Dyson structure would emit waste heat in the mid-infrared spectrum. Several dozen stars matched this mid-infrared signature, but critics said that such signals could also come from natural causes, such as two planets colliding and producing a tremendous amount of material. While rare, it does happen—just ask Earth. Kayali and his team acknowledge these past infrared studies, and suggest that other techniques could be used instead to detect distant Dyson rings around pulsars. “Previous studies covered the detection of a ring structure uniformly brightened by the central pulsar, mostly in infrared light,” the authors wrote. They do, however, note that a pulsar beam’s superluminal speeds could be hiding Dyson structures from detection. “These speeds may cause multiple images of the pulsar’s spot on the Dyson ring to appear simultaneously to a distant observer, and so feature bright creation and annihilation events. Therefore, it is possible that even if Dyson ring structures had been observed previously, they might have remained unnoticed.” When exploring something as vast and unknowing as deep space, many explanations can exist for strange behaviors detected by our ultra-sensitive telescopes. But Kayali makes a solid argument that Dyson rings should be on the checklist of possibilities—maybe toward the bottom of the list, but on the list nonetheless. Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.  Could Fusion Energy Also Help Us Find Alien Life? There’s Still Unknown Physics in Our Universe This Test Could Prove If Universe Is Made for Life A Father-Daughter Duo Cracked an ‘Alien’ Code This Molecule May Be the Source of Life on Earth Neutron Stars Could Be Nurseries for Axions Scientists Found First Triple Black Hole System Will the Universe End in a “Long Freeze”? We May Have Found Our First-Ever Exomoon Could Future Astronauts Dine on Asteroids? Our Cosmic Neighborhood Is Bigger Than We Thought Scientists Spot Largest Ever Black Hole Jet A Part of Hearst Digital Media We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. ©2024 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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