53 ESTRELAS CANDIDATAS A HOSPEDAR ESFERA DE DYSON

GET YOUR TICKET NOW FOR THE SPACE TODAY PERFORMANCE ON MAY 26, 2024, AT 4 PM AT THE TEATRO GAZETA ON AVENIDA PAULISTA - ARE WE ALONE? https://bileto.sympla.com.br/event/91... CONSIDER SUPPORTING SPACE TODAY'S WORK BY SUBSCRIBING TO THE SPACE TODAY PLUS PREMIUM PLATFORM FOR ONLY R$29.00 PER MONTH, LESS THAN 1 REAL PER DAY!!! https://spacetodayplus.com.br/premium/ Two studies of millions of stars in our galaxy have revealed mysterious infrared heat spikes coming from dozens of them. Astronomers say this could be evidence of alien civilizations harnessing the energy of their stars using a vast construct known as a Dyson Sphere – though they can't entirely rule out more mundane explanations. First proposed in the 1960s, Dyson spheres are hypothesized structures that could surround entire stars to absorb their energy, a possible means by which advanced aliens could draw enormous amounts of power. If such objects exist, they should be hot enough to emit a detectable infrared glow – a "Technological Signature" that could alert us to the presence of alien life. To search for potential Dyson spheres, two teams of astronomers, one led by Matías Suazo at Uppsala University in Sweden and the other by Gaby Contard at the International School for Advanced Studies in Italy, combined data from the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite – which maps the position and movement of billions of stars in our galaxy – with results from infrared surveys by ground-based and space-based telescopes. Each team analyzed 5 million stars from the combined datasets, and both found signs of excess infrared heat that could not be explained by known natural processes. "The most fascinating explanation could be real Dyson spheres," says Suazo. His team detected strange signals in seven red dwarfs 900 light-years from Earth. These stars are smaller and fainter than our Sun, but appeared up to 60 times brighter in the infrared than expected. This excess would have been caused by something with a temperature of up to about 25°C, consistent with what we might expect for a Dyson sphere. Up to 16% of each star would have to be obscured to explain the signal, meaning it would be more likely a variant of the idea called a Dyson swarm – a collection of large satellites orbiting a star to collect energy – if the cause is indeed artificial in origin. "This isn't like a single solid shell around the star," says Jason Wright, a team member from Pennsylvania State University. Contardo's results are broader, with 53 candidates found among larger stars, including some Sun-like stars, at distances of up to 6,500 light-years from Earth. "Both sets of candidates are interesting," she says, though inconclusive. "You need follow-up observations to confirm anything." A natural explanation that could mimic the properties of a Dyson sphere is that the stars are surrounded by disks of hot, planet-forming debris, but most of the stars found by both teams appear to be too old for that. Another possibility is that each star may coincidentally be positioned in front of a distant galaxy emitting an infrared glow. The infrared signals could also result from some unknown natural process. "It could be something that happens very rarely, like if two planets collide and produce a huge amount of material," says David Hogg of New York University, who worked with Contardo. "I think it's more likely to be a natural phenomenon." The James Webb Space Telescope could shed more light on these stars, revealing whether the infrared heat comes from natural dusty material or something else. "Either we rule them all out and say that Dyson spheres are quite rare and very difficult to find, or they'll just sit around as candidates and we'll study the hell out of them," says Wright. SOURCE: https://www.newscientist.com/article/... #STARS #DYSON #LIFE