Alien Megastructure Candidates – Not as Crazy as it Sounds!

Dyson Spheres are hypothetical megastructures built by highly advanced civilizations around their stars to harness energy. A group of astrophysicists says they have identified several possible candidates… and I think it's not remotely as crazy as it sounds.

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#science #sciencenews #physics #space

[cherubinth]

If we had a Dyson sphere 1 kWh of electricity would cost 0.0001 cent plus 40 cents of taxes in Germany.

[BigZebraCom]

For a moment I misread the title of this video "Alien Megachurch Candidates"

[Freakcent]

“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.” – Bill Watterson

[Konrad-zw]

I remember in the game "Freelancer" you get to investigate aliens and follow them home. There you discover them having built a Dyson sphere. That gameplay moment alone was worth the price of the game.

[hoogreg]

The "if you're against growth you're an enemy of humanity" bit came as a surprise.

[mshotz]

The Earth is that one place the aliens lock the doors on their space ships when they fly by.

[MrLeafeater]

I don't know why, but I can't stop laughing because you ignored the phone when it rang.

[malavoy]

Dyson developed an idea from Olaf Stapledon's 1937 novel 'Star Maker'. Dyson didn't come up with the idea, just explored it scientifically.

There's a common misunderstanding about Dyson spheres that the video seemed to support.

Dyson spheres can't be rigid structures. Each part of the Dyson sphere must be in an orbital rotation. In a rigid structure, the north and south poles aren't moving, which means there's no centrifugal force to counteract gravity and keep it aloft.

Yes, I'm aware that centrifugal force isn't considered a "real" force but rather the result of inertia. However, the concept still applies—we need a force to balance out gravity.

And while we're on the subject, gravity isn't technically a force either. It's the result of the curvature in the fabric of spacetime. But that's another topic altogether.

To be fair, at least one of the graphics depicted multiple bands rotating, which I suppose is more realistic.

I keep thinking about how much material you need to cover exactly 100% of a sphere? The problem is that some of the rotating bands will overlap.

[johnreed]

"..because re-naming things is what we call progress on our planet" - Solid Gold right there!

[mikehughesdesigns]

The only problem with Dyson is they only offer up to 5 year warranty...

[jrblihe]

Note that the metallicity produced by first and second generation stars was essential for both our complex biology and technology. It's unlikely that complex life and technology evolved around the earlier star generations, which is to say that advanced alien civilizations probably only evolved not until third generation stars like our Sun.

[Calikid]

A Dyson Sphere is only how WE'd go about it with our current understanding of physics. I think an advanced enough civilization has found an even easier access to near-infinite energy, to where a Dyson Sphere wouldn't even be necessary.

[cbailey]

I'm sure we will eventually chuckle at the idea of a dyson sphere harvesting solar radiation when the aliens show us how to extract limitless energy from the vaccum of 5D space using a handheld device.

[timeWaster]

Right ! "Not as Crazy as it Sounds!" it's crazier !

[Alterraboo]

Sabine & Isaac Arthur crossover incoming

[victorkrawchuk]

I would think that rather than Dyson Spheres, they would more likely be Dyson Swarms, or perhaps skewed sets of Dyson Rings in the most advanced cases. A solid sphere spinning around a star might be awkward to keep inflated at the rotational poles. Unless, of course, the reason why the builders don't want to contact us is that they know the first thing we'd try to do is pop a sphere to see what happens. Humans are probably popular monsters in Alien versions of the movie "Them!".

[DavidGuyton]

Harvesting energy isn't really a problem; harvesting materials in amounts great enough to cover (at least a portion of) a star is a problem. Any civilization that can go to those lengths would have the technology to leave their stars and find energy elsewhere.

[bobbybroadway]

The image of aliens building a Dyson sphere somehow reminds me of Egyptians building a pyramid.

[BR-hiyt]

Aliens would certainly use Dyson Spheres for making baked potatoes.