A new study is offering astronomers a clearer way to look for possible Dyson swarms, the hypothetical megastructures first proposed by physicist Freeman Dyson in 1960, according to ScienceDaily. The research, led by Amirnezam Amiri of the University of Arkansas and available as a pre-print on arXiv, is set to be published in Universe.
Instead of a single solid shell, a Dyson swarm would consist of many orbiting collectors that capture a star’s energy. The study examines how such a structure would appear to modern telescopes and identifies the kinds of stars that might be the best candidates.
Red dwarfs stand out as one promising option because they are small, common, and burn their fuel slowly enough to last trillions of years. White dwarfs could also be attractive targets for a civilization building such a system because they are compact and could be surrounded by collectors much closer to the star, reducing the amount of material needed.
According to the study, a Dyson swarm would absorb most visible starlight and re-radiate the energy as infrared heat, which would make the object appear much cooler than a normal star while keeping its overall luminosity the same. The James Webb Space Telescope is especially well suited to look for these kinds of infrared signatures, and older missions such as WISE have also been used in the search.
Researchers involved in Project Hephaistos reported seven possible Dyson sphere candidates in May 2024 after examining about 5 million stars, though one was later explained by a background black hole. That left five candidates for further study, and Amiri’s work adds more clues that could help astronomers separate natural objects from possible technosignatures.
