Why would a star go out? Mostly because of natural processes – it will use up all the fuel needed for the thermonuclear reaction and end its life cycle. Much rarer are catastrophic events such as collisions of celestial bodies or a star being sucked into a black hole. But there is another option for the death of a star: an artificial one.
There is growing support for the idea that if intelligent life exists somewhere in the Universe, it should probably be superior to our relatively young human civilization. Moreover, the level of modern technology can only detect life that is an order of magnitude more advanced than Earth’s and that leaves visible traces of its presence in the cosmos. More and more often there are statements that the most noticeable of such traces will be the so-called Dyson’s sphere.
Dyson’s sphere is an artificial engineering structure in the form of a sphere with a star in the center. It is assumed that such a shell will collect all the solar energy that will be needed for the survival of the civilization of the future. Such a huge structure will affect the brightness of the star and at the same time emit infrared radiation, which can be captured by modern astronomical means.
Currently, the detection of Dyson spheres around stars is one of the priorities of the SETI project to search for alien life. In a recent study, Swedish astronomers analyzed 300,000 stars. The studies were conducted over three periods to capture changes in the brightness of stars. Out of 300,000 candidates, only 148 stars came out as “finalists” and were re-analyzed. It turned out that almost all of the changes in the brightness of the stars were caused by instrumental error, and therefore they did not meet the given criteria. All but one. The data obtained clearly show that during all three periods its brightness was fading, which may indicate the presence or construction of the Dyson sphere around it. At the same time, the instruments did not record any infrared radiation that could be emitted by the solar panels of the giant structure.
According to scientists, the behavior of the star at this time can not be interpreted unequivocally: it can be caused by both natural causes and the presence of an alien civilization. In the near future, it is planned to continue studying the object using more powerful telescopes.
