Alien 'Dyson sphere' megastructures could surround at least 7 stars in our galaxy, new studies suggest (2024)

FAQs

Is building a Dyson sphere really possible? ›

It would be impossible for us to build a solid sphere around a star. Freeman Dyson admitted as much. He proposed instead a concept in which we released many independent machines to circle the sun, collecting energy and beaming it to Earth. The satellites might be arranged in neat rings.

The sphere would be composed of a shell of solar panels around the star, making it so that all of its energy radiated would hit one of these panels, where its energy could be collected and used. Thus a Dyson sphere would create not only immense living space, but also gather extraordinary amounts of energy.

Feasibility and science-based speculation

Although Dyson sphere systems are theoretically possible, building a stable megastructure around the Sun is currently far beyond humanity's engineering capacity.

Dysonspheres around blackholes are a real frelling theoretical concept. But they are actually just reflective spheres you construct around them.

Our Sun is a huge nuclear reactor producing a gigantic amount of energy. To collect this energy most efficiently, it would be possible to use a Dyson sphere – a giant shell around a star. But to build such an incredibly huge structure, it takes such an amount of material, which is simply physically not enough on Earth.

If it could be stabilized, a Dyson Sphere built at 93 million miles from the sun, the same distance as Earth, would contain about 600 million times the surface area of our planet in its interior. However, comparatively little of the surface would be habitable on account of a lack of gravity.

The construction of a Dyson Sphere would be an enormous undertaking that would require a vast amount of resources and advanced technology, and would supposedly enable human flourishing on a massive scale. At present, the construction of such a structure is well beyond our technological capabilities.

However, Dyson Spheres may not even exist. This doesn't mean that they can't exist at all, rather that any civilization capable of building them probably wouldn't need it (unless it's some kind of mega art project).

The simplest form of Dyson sphere might begin as a ring of solar power collectors, at a distance from a star of, say, 100 million miles. This configuration is sometimes called a Dyson ring.

Is there enough material in a planet to build a Dyson sphere? A Dyson sphere is theoretically possible, however the circ*mstances that would have to be considered is that there will not be enough material is a one solar system to create a single orbit within the same solar system.

Would a Dyson Sphere be stable? ›

Dyson spheres are unstable enough as it is without any external centres of gravity. Niven rings are much better.

As you descend through a sphere, the only gravity you feel is the gravity below you (toward the center). Everything above you is balanced out by the mass "across the way" from you. Therefore, inside a Dyson Sphere there is no gravity due to mass (now... if you can get that sphere spinning...)

Therefore, it is likely that mining all known asteroids and the metal-rich moons of Jupiter and Saturn, as well as completely disassembling Jupiter and Mercury, would provide enough material to construct a Dyson sphere that is 1 m thick, 1 AU from the sun, and has a composition of 50% silicon, 30% carbon, and 20% ...

Is there enough material in a planet to build a Dyson sphere? A Dyson sphere is theoretically possible, however the circ*mstances that would have to be considered is that there will not be enough material is a one solar system to create a single orbit within the same solar system.

Based on the updated calculations, constructing a Dyson sphere of this size and composition would require approximately 1.8 x 10^25 kilograms of material.