In 1960, theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson proposed that technologically advanced extraterrestrial civilizations could build gigantic structures around their stars to capture their energy.
These megastructures, which became known as Dyson spheres, would allow these civilizations to use the energy emitted by their stars more efficiently in order to meet their ever-increasing energy needs.
These observations have sparked great interest among scientists searching for intelligent life beyond Earth.
Recently, a group of researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden used a computer program to analyze more than five million stars in our galaxy, looking for infrared excess emissions (IEEs) that could indicate the presence of Dyson spheres.
These infrared emissions are a key technological signature, as they correspond to the detection of low levels of luminosity compared to a high level of heat emitted by the star.
According to the researchers, the stars appeared up to 60 times brighter in infrared than they expected, which would be exactly the result of a Dyson sphere.
The results of this analysis, published in the Royal Astronomical Society, identified seven stars, all red dwarfs, as potential candidates.
These stars are located less than 900 light-years from Earth, which is very close to Earth, given that our galaxy is 100,000 light-years across.
The researchers took care to rule out other possible natural sources of IEEs, such as nebulae and debris disks, to minimize false positives.
A similar study conducted by another team of researchers from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Italy also found 53 potential candidates among the stars studied, although these results have not yet been peer-reviewed.
If these observations are confirmed, they could have major implications for our understanding of extraterrestrial civilizations.
The detection of Dyson spheres would indicate that technologically advanced civilizations exist and are capable of manipulating stellar energy on a gigantic scale.
The next steps include observations with more powerful instruments, such as the James Webb Space Telescope.
These observations will allow us to confirm the presence of IEEs and search for other signs of intelligent life in these star systems.
