Scientists Find Evidence Of Dyson Spheres And Alien Civilizations
The concept of Dyson spheres, which was introduced in 1960 by Freeman Dyson, has long held mythic status as a method for detecting alien civilization by looking first for evidence of technology. Researchers think they’ve found possible evidence of Dyson spheres in seven places where infrared light was detected that isn’t currently explainable due to natural phenomena.
Although there’s a possibility that the exceptional infrared readings could be caused by an accidental alignment of multiple celestial bodies in the readings, or debris from the collision of planets, there’s also a possibility that the extraordinary readings are evidence of alien technology.
Dyson’s Hypothesis
The hypothesis for the Dyson sphere method of searching for intelligent life other than humans is that an advanced society would build an apparatus around its host star to harness its energy directly, and originated from a 1937 novel titled Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon.
Seven Stars Detecting Dyson Spheres
Freeman Dyson posited that we could potentially observe this structure using telescopes, where we could see partially obscured light from the star, or we might be able to detect the waste heat created by the energy harvesting process. Scientists who published a recent study that analyzed infrared images of 5 million stars say they have found seven with an unexplained infrared pattern.
Collecting The Data
The data that scientists used to search for Dyson spheres within 1,000 lightyears of Earth was gleaned from Gaia, a universe mapping project of the European Space Agency, 2MASS, a whole sky survey conducted by UMass and NASA, and WISE, NASA’s wide-field infrared explorer.
This wide-net approach to searching for Dyson spheres is the first of its kind using modern infrared-sensing technology, and it yielded promising results. The study found that out of the 5 million stars that were observed, seven exhibited an infrared glow that wasn’t the result of the star alone.
Other Possible Explanations
There are several possibilities that could explain the origin of the weird infrared signature exhibited by the seven stars in question other than the presence of a Dyson sphere, so it’s not necessarily proof that intelligent life built an energy-harvesting apparatus.
The images of the stars could be accidentally overlaid on top of a distant galaxy, giving it both the infrared profile of the start and the galaxy behind it, they could be young stars surrounded by discs of intensely hot material thrown out into space from their birth, or they could be near a recent planetary collision, with hot debris still swirling from the event. But there’s a possibility that the strange infrared shapes could actually be Dyson spheres.
One Step Closer To Finding Extraterrestrial Life
There’s no way to be sure whether or not the uncommon infrared readings are caused by Dyson spheres without collecting further data, but the results collected by Matías Sauzo, Erik Zackrisson, and their research team recommend spectroscopy to help determine the origin of the excess infrared heat signatures.
Further study of these seven exceptional stars could resolve the source of the readings, and potentially find neighboring alien life in the universe. Since the quality of the data isn’t specific enough to provide an explanation for the infrared light, the final word on Dyson spheres is yet to be spoken.
Source: Oxford Academic
