Scientists found seven stars emitting unusual infrared signals—potential signs of alien megastructures.
Key Takeaways:
- At least seven stars in our galaxy show possible signs of Dyson sphere megastructures.
- These stars, all M-dwarfs within 1,000 light-years, emit excess infrared radiation.
- The discovery was made by analyzing data from Gaia, WISE, and 2MASS telescopes.
- Other natural explanations, like debris disks, haven’t been fully ruled out yet.
- Follow-up observations with JWST could confirm if these signals indicate alien technology.
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Potential Dyson Spheres Detected Around Nearby Stars
A new study suggests that at least seven stars in the Milky Way could be surrounded by Dyson spheres—hypothetical megastructures built by advanced extraterrestrial civilizations to harness stellar energy. The research, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, identified these candidates by searching for excess infrared radiation, a key technosignature of such structures.
The team analyzed data from over five million stars using observations from ESA’s Gaia spacecraft, NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). Their search flagged seven M-dwarf stars, all within 1,000 light-years of Earth, that emit an unusual amount of infrared radiation.
This isn’t the first such study—another recent preprint uploaded to arXiv found 53 potential candidates using similar methods, though it’s unclear whether both teams analyzed the same data sets.
Next Steps: Confirming or Debunking the Signals
Infrared excess emissions (IEEs) can be caused by natural phenomena, such as dust clouds or debris disks from planetary collisions. While the researchers accounted for these possibilities, they acknowledge that false positives remain a possibility.
The next step is to observe these stars using more advanced instruments, such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), to determine whether the infrared signals truly originate from artificial structures or have natural explanations. If confirmed, the discovery could be one of the most groundbreaking findings in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
