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Space

Dozens of stars show signs of hosting advanced alien civilisations

Sufficiently advanced aliens would be able to capture vast quantities of energy from their star using a massive structure called a Dyson sphere. Such a device would give off an infrared heat signature - and astronomers have just spotted 60 stars that seem to match

By Jonathan O’Callaghan

10 May 2024

Dyson spheres could capture the energy from a star

dotted zebra/Alamy

Two surveys of millions of stars in our galaxy have revealed mysterious spikes in infrared heat coming from dozens of them. Astronomers say this could be evidence for alien civilisations harnessing energy from their stars by using a vast construction known as a Dyson sphere – although they can’t fully rule out more mundane explanations.

Read more

Strange alien worlds suggest Earth could survive the death of the sun

First proposed in the 1960s, Dyson spheres are hypothesised structures that could surround entire stars to absorb their energy, a…

Article amended on 14 May 2024

We have corrected the selection of stars the two teams looked at.

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