Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation (1960)

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36 pointsslbenfica4 comments

I love this... So much hope :)

The search for Dyson spheres was happening. Here are summary of results so far: https://home.fnal.gov/~carrigan/infrared_astronomy/Fermilab_...

Not too likely to work if the builders know anything about making an efficient Dyson sphere [0].

0. https://www.tillett.info/2016/08/03/carnot-efficient-dyson-s...

I think it's more likely than you credit. I expect that Dyson spheres "in the wild" would exist on a continuum of inefficient to efficient to decayed.

An inefficient sphere might exist under these conditions:

* Still under construction

* Inefficient sphere built previous to efficient spheres

* A civilization is just learning how to build one

* A ruined structure from a dead or regressed civilization

A sphere (swam more likely) that is under construction/damaged/ruined would leak a large amount of light at high wavelengths. A 290K infrared survey is not going to pick up one of these structures.

It reminds me I need to finish my post on how to actually find Dyson spheres.

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