<p>Hypothetically, if Dyson spheres were already present, how could we observe them? My layman understanding of the reason we believe dark matter exists is that our current estimates of the total mass of the universe is very different from the observed stars. But what if a significant proportion of those stars were covered? My obvious hypothesis is that this would explain the missing mass of the universe, and solve both the question of dark matter and the existence of aliens.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-01T14:47:48.583Z
Visible light is only one way that we can detect stars.  If a dyson sphere existed somewhere, it's gravitational effects could still be measured in the gravitational pull on the surrounding stars.
Scottie
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-01T15:27:32.203Z
@HDE226868 That's totally the duplicate. I'm surprised it didn't show up in the suggestions when I typed the title. How do I mark it as duplicate? Do I just delete?
Guillaume CR
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-01T15:43:47.603Z
Jason T Right is a guy who actually seems to have looked for them. Inconclusively of course, you would've known otherwise. He's a blogger and here's a talk he gave at SETI: http://www.seti.org/weeky-lecture/wise-search-large-extraterrestrial-civilizations-complementary-approach-traditional "Covered stars" I think could still be very possibly undetected. There are more red dwarfs between you and the stars you see on the night sky, than there are stars you see.
LocalFluff
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-01T15:48:33.570Z
@LocalFluff Astronomy never ceases to blow my mind. Thanks for the link.
Guillaume CR
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-01T15:58:27.270Z
In the next couple of decades, within our lifetime hopefully, new telescopes will reveal ETI. Or severely constrain their existence. Finding "them" would be fantastic, of course. But finding nothing would also be revolutionizing. What makes us unique? If they are out there, why don't they cover stars to farm light? Maybe we are missing some basic physics or engineering here. My guess is that we will find them and that we will be disgusted by them. Horrible horrible "people" out there! We'll wish we never had a look at them. The night sky will never be the same again. Utterly disgusting! :-)
LocalFluff
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-01T17:29:48.793Z
@GuillaumeCR We'll vote to close based on it being a duplicate.
HDE 226868
<extra-terrestrial>
How could we observe Dyson spheres?
Guillaume CR
# How could we observe Dyson spheres?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-10-01)

Hypothetically, if Dyson spheres were already present, how could we observe them? My layman understanding of the reason we believe dark matter exists is that our current estimates of the total mass of the universe is very different from the observed stars. But what if a significant proportion of those stars were covered? My obvious hypothesis is that this would explain the missing mass of the universe, and solve both the question of dark matter and the existence of aliens.

**Tags:** extra-terrestrial
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Visible light is only one way that we can detect stars.  If a dyson sphere existed somewhere, it's gravitational effects could still be measured in the gravitational pull on the surrounding stars.  
> **username_0**: @HDE226868 That's totally the duplicate. I'm surprised it didn't show up in the suggestions when I typed the title. How do I mark it as duplicate? Do I just delete?  
> **username_2**: Jason T Right is a guy who actually seems to have looked for them. Inconclusively of course, you would've known otherwise. He's a blogger and here's a talk he gave at SETI: http://www.seti.org/weeky-lecture/wise-search-large-extraterrestrial-civilizations-complementary-approach-traditional "Covered stars" I think could still be very possibly undetected. There are more red dwarfs between you and the stars you see on the night sky, than there are stars you see.  
> **username_0**: @LocalFluff Astronomy never ceases to blow my mind. Thanks for the link.  
> **username_2**: In the next couple of decades, within our lifetime hopefully, new telescopes will reveal ETI. Or severely constrain their existence. Finding "them" would be fantastic, of course. But finding nothing would also be revolutionizing. What makes us unique? If they are out there, why don't they cover stars to farm light? Maybe we are missing some basic physics or engineering here. My guess is that we will find them and that we will be disgusted by them. Horrible horrible "people" out there! We'll wish we never had a look at them. The night sky will never be the same again. Utterly disgusting! :-)  
> **username_3**: @GuillaumeCR We'll vote to close based on it being a duplicate.  

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