Did ET turn FD'S theory into reality?

[John Sellers]

The theory:

In 1960, theoretical physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson wrote a short paper for the journal Science, entitled "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation". In it, he theorized that a technologically advanced extraterrestrial civilization might completely surround its native star with artificial structures in order to maximize the capture of the star's available energy. Eventually, the civilization would completely enclose the star, intercepting electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths from visible light downwards and radiating waste heat outwards as infrared radiation. Therefore, one method of searching for extraterrestrial civilizations would be to look for large objects radiating in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The possible reality:

Note: I just stumbled upon the following year old article, but I found it interesting.

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "Relics," the crew of the USS Enterprise-D comes upon a full Dyson sphere, a hypothetical spherical megastructure that completely surrounds a star and harnesses all or most of its energy. Now, a new study shows a bizarre light pattern coming from a distant star, and researchers are actually investigating the possibility that it may be the result of a real-life Dyson sphere built by an advanced alien civilization.

The star, called KIC 8462852, experiences dips in its brightness, which is nothing unusual on its own. The Kepler Space Telescope has found thousands of exoplanets by observing their transits across neighboring stars, which causes their brightness to dim briefly. However, the dips are too extreme and too erratic to be the result of run-of-the-mill transiting exoplanets. A transit usually causes a star's brightness to dim by less than one percent, and on a periodic basis, as the exoplanet orbits the star regularly. But this star has experienced huge dips in brightness, up to 22%, which simply could not be the result of a planet, and it doesn't seem to be occurring on any kind of cyclical basis.

There are several explanations that are somewhat plausible, but none are perfect. It would make sense if there were some kind of massive planetary collision in the recent past that caused huge chunks of debris to surround the star, causing transits with no apparent rhyme or reason. But we would expect the dust created in a huge collision to emit excess infrared light, which hasn't been observed in the area surrounding the star. The best explanation is a series of comets circling the star, but even then it's difficult to explain such a huge blockage of light.

As a result, lead author Tabetha Boyajian went looking for other explanations, and consulted on the findings with Jason Wright, an astronomer who specializes in searching for signatures of alien civilizations. According to Wright, a Dyson sphere constructed by an advanced alien civilization would be consistent with the findings. Most plausible conceptions of a Dyson sphere consist of hundreds of thousands of solar panels orbiting the star rather than one huge structure, so it's possible that an alien civilization living on a nearby planet is in the middle of building one. If part of the star is surrounded by oddly-shaped panels at any one time, then their orbit could cause these erratic dimming patterns.

Wright and Boyajian are now proposing to search for radio signals emitted around the star, as this alien civilization would be advanced enough to emit radio waves that would be detectable from 1500 light years away. This explanation is probably highly unlikely, as even Wright admits that we should "approach it skeptically." But it is an undeniably strange astronomical phenomenon, so there may be an equally strange explanation, and it's worth investigating.

Article Link

[John Sellers]

Why do I even bother? #rhetoricalquestion

[xoxoxoBruce]

John, Star Trek is not real, it can't prove anything.

[John Sellers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

John, Star Trek is not real, it can't prove anything.

Oh gee, I thought Star Trek was a documentary. Do you really think I'm that dumb? I'm a 46 year old grown-ass man, and evidently, you're too close-minded to believe such things (i.e.: a real-life Dyson Sphere are, at least, possible. Even humans may be able to build one someday...but is it really plausible? I invite you to Click here to find out...if your mind is open.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I'll leave that to science, I've got better things to worry about.

[Happy Monkey]

An interesting quirk of a Dyson Sphere is that despite the fact that an unimaginable amount of mass would be needed to construct it, there's no gravity inside it; gravity inside a spherical shell cancels out.

You could simulate gravity by spinning it, but the "gravity" would be pointed away from the axis, so it would be strongest at the equator, and would only be perpendicular to the sphere at the equator. As you walked "north" or "south", the gravity would decrease, and you'd lean more and more towards the pole.

[John Sellers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I'll leave that to science, I've got better things to worry about.

Fair enuf. I, myself, am burdened with selective curiosity.

Ok, gotta get back to watching The Matrix, which also totally real.

[Pamela]

There is no sphere.

[John Sellers]

heheh

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by Pamela

There is no sphere.

Only Zuul.

[John Sellers]

heheh, part deux

[John Sellers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

John, Star Trek is not real, it can't prove anything.

Ok, I know this shouldn't still bother me, but it does. Star Trek may be just a science fiction show, but it does prove something: imagination inspires innovation and creativity.

Instead of posting specific links, I'll just let you look it up yourself. Use the keyphrase tech inspired by star trek.

[tw]

Same can be said for Jules Verne novels. Where the Nautilus was considered impossible in his time. And yet the Nautilus ended up beneath the North Pole almost 100 years later. Also Paris in the Twentieth Century, Five Weeks in a Balloon, etc. He got most of future technology right. Not bad for someone who wrote fiction. And had so many great works rejected by publishers who found them too unbelievable.

[xoxoxoBruce]

And Dick Tracy's wrist radios.

[classicman]

.. and the Jetsons..