Extraterrestrial

Astronomers search for Dyson Spheres

By T.K. Randall
October 8, 2012 ·  33 comments

Image Credit: NASA/ESA The concept of a Dyson Sphere was first proposed in 1960 by physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson who suggested that in the event that a sufficiently advanced alien civilization ran out of energy on its home planet then a way to overcome the problem would be to surround the entire parent star with solar panels in a giant spherical structure. Despite sounding like the plot of a science fiction movie, the concept has been taken seriously enough for a group of astronomers to undertake a project to search for one.

Lead by Penn State's Jason Wright, the trio have started a two-year search of several million galaxies using a grant awarded to them by the Templeton Foundation. "Even though there is enough mass in our solar system to construct a solid sphere, such a structure would not be mechanically feasible," said Wright. "It would probably have to be more like a swarm of collectors."[!gad]The concept of a Dyson Sphere was first proposed in 1960 by physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson who suggested that in the event that a sufficiently advanced alien civilization ran out of energy on its home planet then a way to overcome the problem would be to surround the entire parent star with solar panels in a giant spherical structure. Despite sounding like the plot of a science fiction movie, the concept has been taken seriously enough for a group of astronomers to undertake a project to search for one.

Lead by Penn State's Jason Wright, the trio have started a two-year search of several million galaxies using a grant awarded to them by the Templeton Foundation. "Even though there is enough mass in our solar system to construct a solid sphere, such a structure would not be mechanically feasible," said Wright. "It would probably have to be more like a swarm of collectors."

Source: The Atlantic | Comments (33)

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