October 6, 2012 at 16:49Finding Dyson's Orb is a more realistic option than hearing an alien radio.
A team of astronomers began to search for Dyson Spheres - large-scale solar power plants of stellar proportions, which, according to the hopes of researchers, are used by developed alien civilizations.
In the photo: Part of the NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer ( WISE ) survey , visible in the infrared spectrum.
Back in 1960, a mathematician, physicist, and in many ways a brilliant specialist, Freeman Dyson predicted that every civilization in the Universe would sooner or later exhaust all the energy reserves of its home planet, provided that sufficient time would survive. Dyson argued that this event is one of the main obstacles in the evolution of any civilization, and there is only one way to overcome it: building huge collectors of solar energy, in other words, the shell around their "native" star, which is an extensive solar power plant. So astronomers decided to call this theoretical superstructure “Dyson Orb”. Dyson’s thoughts may look like nothing more than a thought experiment, but if his hypothesis turned out to be true, then it can have amazing consequences:
Last month, a trio of astronomers led by Jason Wrigth of Penn State University launched a two-year search for the Dyson Orb, a study that would affect not only the Milky Way, but millions of other galaxies. Their project has recently been awarded a major award from the Temlpeton Foundation, a charitable organization that seeks research aimed at trying to answer the “big questions” facing humanity: questions related to “the purpose of the person and / or the ultimate idea of reality ".
So, how does Wright and his team intend to find the Dyson Orb? Thinking about the “sphere”, we automatically imagine its whole structure, but Wright said that his team did not intend to look for a whole shell. “Even if we imagine that there is enough mass in our solar system to build a solid sphere, such a structure would be mechanically impossible,” Wright said. “Most likely, it will look like a moving cluster (swarm) of collectors of solar energy.”
Such a bold assumption about the fantastic alien technology of the future may look a little unscientific, but the search for extraterrestrial civilizations always relies on similar, too naive, and maybe even a little eccentric ideas. Suffice it to recall the SETI project (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence - Eng. Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), which hopes to find confirmation of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations through constant tracking of the starry sky as a sign of the presence of an alien radio signal there. At present, people have not come close to the amount of energy that is needed for such a radio signal, to which SETI held his breath and “listened”. Earlier this year, astronomer Robert Gray told me that to provide energy to a beacon that can broadcast a radio signal in all directions without stopping, with the power needed to catch it in a few light years from us, it will require energy from thousands of large, high-power plants that are simultaneously operating. SETI is betting that developed civilizations will appreciate communicating with others so much that it even justifies such a serious expenditure of energy. He also hopes that such civilizations communicate using radio waves, and use precisely those frequencies that we are observing. For us, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is not just a search for something living on a distant planet, it is a search for a civilization that develops and uses technology in a predictable way. that developed civilizations will value communication with others so much that it even justifies such a serious expenditure of energy. He also hopes that such civilizations communicate using radio waves, and use precisely those frequencies that we are observing. For us, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is not just a search for something living on a distant planet, it is a search for a civilization that develops and uses technology in a predictable way. that developed civilizations will value communication with others so much that it even justifies such a serious expenditure of energy. He also hopes that such civilizations communicate using radio waves, and use precisely those frequencies that we are observing. For us, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is not just a search for something living on a distant planet, it is a search for a civilization that develops and uses technology in a predictable way.
Compared to SETI, searches aimed at the Dyson Spheres are more modest in their expectations about the goals of advanced alien civilizations. In fact, most of his assumptions were based directly on elementary biology. As Wright, the project manager, explained to me, "Life, by definition, uses energy, which then, in turn, re-radiates as heat." The more civilization, the more energy it consumes, and the more heat it radiates. Life is also (by definition) reproduced, which provides for the possibility of exponentially growing energy needs. And if it is not stopped, then this growth will ultimately be limited by the available energy on the planet. This will leave no choice for a growing civilization but to extract energy from other planets, and ultimately, from stars.
Take Earth as an example. As Oliver Morton noted in his beautiful metaphor: About 120,000 terawatts of energy are being sent to the earth every day. This is 10,000 times more than used by our industrial civilization. This is a really large amount of energy, but we must remember that our civilization is also quite young and is growing really fast. In just 30 years, we doubled energy consumption. If this trend continues, then after 400 years we will use as much energy as the sun gives to our planet. And maybe this will be the time when we will plan the construction of the Dyson Sphere.
It is reasonable to assume that a developed alien civilization can be exponentially more energy-intensive, especially considering that its industrial revolution and irreversible increase in energy demand began, perhaps even billions of years ago. Spheres of Dyson may be one of the oldest and most successful phenomena in the vastness of our universe.
An anonymous concept of the possible structure of the “swarm” of the Dyson Orb. (Wikimedia Commons)
The idea of the Dyson Sphere also intersects with another theory of the development of civilization: “The Kardashev Scale”. In 1964, the Soviet astronomer, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nikolai Kardashev, tried to build a theory of scientific and technological progress based on an increase in the energy sources of civilization over time. According to the Kardashev Scale, type I civilization will use all the energy available on the planet, type II - all the energy of their closest star, and type III will take over all the energy of their galaxy. The search for Dyson Spheres is, in essence, a search for type II civilizations. And since it is based only on the ability of civilizations to produce energy, this becomes another indisputable advantage over SETI: it allows you to find such an alien mind that is not necessarily interested in communicating with us.
And therefore, if the Dyson Spheres really exist somewhere, they “promise” to emit a special kind of thermal traces, traces that we can notice using our infrared telescopes. Solar energy will heat the Dyson Orb just as a computer heats up due to electricity flowing inside. Heat will be abundantly emitted from the sphere in the form of light in the middle infrared region of the spectrum.
The civilization that built the Dyson Sphere would have to take many measures to avoid detection: either get rid of the radiated heat in some new way, or by creating massive radiators that will produce excess heat so much that it would cool the sphere to a state where it can get lost in the cosmic microwave background - a faint residual glow from the Big Bang. Wright also noted that the implementation of the latter option will make the sphere a hundred times more massive than it could be. “If civilization wants to hide the sphere, then it will find a way, but it will require enormous deliberate engineering changes, the implementation of which this civilization is hardly interested.”
The James Wright project is not the first attempt to find the Dyson Sphere in the open spaces. In 1980, Fermilab researchers searched for traces of the sphere in data from IRAS (InfraRed Astronomical Satelite - an infrared orbiting observatory), the first ever infrared sky survey. They found several candidates for the role of the sphere, but upon a detailed examination it turned out to be either giant stars or cosmic dust, which absorbs light, and after it is re-emitted in the infrared spectrum.
However, Wright’s team has access to information that Fermilab experts could only dream of. They will study three different infrared scans of space, including WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) provided by NASA (exactly the one on the title of the article) which is hundreds of times more sensitive than its ancestor IRAS. They will search for the Dyson Spheres in our galaxy, as well as immediately in whole galaxies with an excess of heat waste - galaxies that can contain many stars at once, shrouded in technological superconstructions.
If Wright and his team find something that really goes beyond the range of expected astronomical phenomena, a long process of deep study will begin, which will involve astronomers and telescopes from all over the world. He also noted that no matter what the initial data, he would not draw any hasty conclusions. “Every time humanity encounters an inexplicable phenomenon similar to the activities of alien civilizations, it gradually becomes clear - this is a really interesting phenomenon, but it has nothing to do with extraterrestrial intelligence,” he said. Indeed, Nikolai Kardashev believed that he had found really suitable candidates for the role of type III civilization that collect energy on a galactic scale. But upon a detailed study, it turned out that the detected objects are nothing but
Quasar
Closer to the end of our conversation, I asked Wright if the Dyson Spheres and the Kardashev Scales have competing theoretical models that describe how more advanced civilizations might look. “I am not aware of other theories published in leading scientific literature,” he said, “But it is entirely possible that they exist.” In astrobiology, a very ghostly line between science and science fiction. “It often happens that the best thoughts and discussions on this topic are found in fantastic novels with cheap covers,” Wright said. “But I can definitely say that it’s a little strange to write a proposal for serious scientific research, when a good half of the books on your shelf are science fiction.”
In the photo: Part of the NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer ( WISE ) survey , visible in the infrared spectrum.
Back in 1960, a mathematician, physicist, and in many ways a brilliant specialist, Freeman Dyson predicted that every civilization in the Universe would sooner or later exhaust all the energy reserves of its home planet, provided that sufficient time would survive. Dyson argued that this event is one of the main obstacles in the evolution of any civilization, and there is only one way to overcome it: building huge collectors of solar energy, in other words, the shell around their "native" star, which is an extensive solar power plant. So astronomers decided to call this theoretical superstructure “Dyson Orb”. Dyson’s thoughts may look like nothing more than a thought experiment, but if his hypothesis turned out to be true, then it can have amazing consequences:
Last month, a trio of astronomers led by Jason Wrigth of Penn State University launched a two-year search for the Dyson Orb, a study that would affect not only the Milky Way, but millions of other galaxies. Their project has recently been awarded a major award from the Temlpeton Foundation, a charitable organization that seeks research aimed at trying to answer the “big questions” facing humanity: questions related to “the purpose of the person and / or the ultimate idea of reality ".
So, how does Wright and his team intend to find the Dyson Orb? Thinking about the “sphere”, we automatically imagine its whole structure, but Wright said that his team did not intend to look for a whole shell. “Even if we imagine that there is enough mass in our solar system to build a solid sphere, such a structure would be mechanically impossible,” Wright said. “Most likely, it will look like a moving cluster (swarm) of collectors of solar energy.”
Such a bold assumption about the fantastic alien technology of the future may look a little unscientific, but the search for extraterrestrial civilizations always relies on similar, too naive, and maybe even a little eccentric ideas. Suffice it to recall the SETI project (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence - Eng. Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), which hopes to find confirmation of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations through constant tracking of the starry sky as a sign of the presence of an alien radio signal there. At present, people have not come close to the amount of energy that is needed for such a radio signal, to which SETI held his breath and “listened”. Earlier this year, astronomer Robert Gray told me that to provide energy to a beacon that can broadcast a radio signal in all directions without stopping, with the power needed to catch it in a few light years from us, it will require energy from thousands of large, high-power plants that are simultaneously operating. SETI is betting that developed civilizations will appreciate communicating with others so much that it even justifies such a serious expenditure of energy. He also hopes that such civilizations communicate using radio waves, and use precisely those frequencies that we are observing. For us, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is not just a search for something living on a distant planet, it is a search for a civilization that develops and uses technology in a predictable way. that developed civilizations will value communication with others so much that it even justifies such a serious expenditure of energy. He also hopes that such civilizations communicate using radio waves, and use precisely those frequencies that we are observing. For us, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is not just a search for something living on a distant planet, it is a search for a civilization that develops and uses technology in a predictable way. that developed civilizations will value communication with others so much that it even justifies such a serious expenditure of energy. He also hopes that such civilizations communicate using radio waves, and use precisely those frequencies that we are observing. For us, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is not just a search for something living on a distant planet, it is a search for a civilization that develops and uses technology in a predictable way.
Compared to SETI, searches aimed at the Dyson Spheres are more modest in their expectations about the goals of advanced alien civilizations. In fact, most of his assumptions were based directly on elementary biology. As Wright, the project manager, explained to me, "Life, by definition, uses energy, which then, in turn, re-radiates as heat." The more civilization, the more energy it consumes, and the more heat it radiates. Life is also (by definition) reproduced, which provides for the possibility of exponentially growing energy needs. And if it is not stopped, then this growth will ultimately be limited by the available energy on the planet. This will leave no choice for a growing civilization but to extract energy from other planets, and ultimately, from stars.
Take Earth as an example. As Oliver Morton noted in his beautiful metaphor: About 120,000 terawatts of energy are being sent to the earth every day. This is 10,000 times more than used by our industrial civilization. This is a really large amount of energy, but we must remember that our civilization is also quite young and is growing really fast. In just 30 years, we doubled energy consumption. If this trend continues, then after 400 years we will use as much energy as the sun gives to our planet. And maybe this will be the time when we will plan the construction of the Dyson Sphere.
It is reasonable to assume that a developed alien civilization can be exponentially more energy-intensive, especially considering that its industrial revolution and irreversible increase in energy demand began, perhaps even billions of years ago. Spheres of Dyson may be one of the oldest and most successful phenomena in the vastness of our universe.
An anonymous concept of the possible structure of the “swarm” of the Dyson Orb. (Wikimedia Commons)
The idea of the Dyson Sphere also intersects with another theory of the development of civilization: “The Kardashev Scale”. In 1964, the Soviet astronomer, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nikolai Kardashev, tried to build a theory of scientific and technological progress based on an increase in the energy sources of civilization over time. According to the Kardashev Scale, type I civilization will use all the energy available on the planet, type II - all the energy of their closest star, and type III will take over all the energy of their galaxy. The search for Dyson Spheres is, in essence, a search for type II civilizations. And since it is based only on the ability of civilizations to produce energy, this becomes another indisputable advantage over SETI: it allows you to find such an alien mind that is not necessarily interested in communicating with us.
And therefore, if the Dyson Spheres really exist somewhere, they “promise” to emit a special kind of thermal traces, traces that we can notice using our infrared telescopes. Solar energy will heat the Dyson Orb just as a computer heats up due to electricity flowing inside. Heat will be abundantly emitted from the sphere in the form of light in the middle infrared region of the spectrum.
The civilization that built the Dyson Sphere would have to take many measures to avoid detection: either get rid of the radiated heat in some new way, or by creating massive radiators that will produce excess heat so much that it would cool the sphere to a state where it can get lost in the cosmic microwave background - a faint residual glow from the Big Bang. Wright also noted that the implementation of the latter option will make the sphere a hundred times more massive than it could be. “If civilization wants to hide the sphere, then it will find a way, but it will require enormous deliberate engineering changes, the implementation of which this civilization is hardly interested.”
The James Wright project is not the first attempt to find the Dyson Sphere in the open spaces. In 1980, Fermilab researchers searched for traces of the sphere in data from IRAS (InfraRed Astronomical Satelite - an infrared orbiting observatory), the first ever infrared sky survey. They found several candidates for the role of the sphere, but upon a detailed examination it turned out to be either giant stars or cosmic dust, which absorbs light, and after it is re-emitted in the infrared spectrum.
However, Wright’s team has access to information that Fermilab experts could only dream of. They will study three different infrared scans of space, including WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) provided by NASA (exactly the one on the title of the article) which is hundreds of times more sensitive than its ancestor IRAS. They will search for the Dyson Spheres in our galaxy, as well as immediately in whole galaxies with an excess of heat waste - galaxies that can contain many stars at once, shrouded in technological superconstructions.
If Wright and his team find something that really goes beyond the range of expected astronomical phenomena, a long process of deep study will begin, which will involve astronomers and telescopes from all over the world. He also noted that no matter what the initial data, he would not draw any hasty conclusions. “Every time humanity encounters an inexplicable phenomenon similar to the activities of alien civilizations, it gradually becomes clear - this is a really interesting phenomenon, but it has nothing to do with extraterrestrial intelligence,” he said. Indeed, Nikolai Kardashev believed that he had found really suitable candidates for the role of type III civilization that collect energy on a galactic scale. But upon a detailed study, it turned out that the detected objects are nothing but
Quasar
Closer to the end of our conversation, I asked Wright if the Dyson Spheres and the Kardashev Scales have competing theoretical models that describe how more advanced civilizations might look. “I am not aware of other theories published in leading scientific literature,” he said, “But it is entirely possible that they exist.” In astrobiology, a very ghostly line between science and science fiction. “It often happens that the best thoughts and discussions on this topic are found in fantastic novels with cheap covers,” Wright said. “But I can definitely say that it’s a little strange to write a proposal for serious scientific research, when a good half of the books on your shelf are science fiction.”