This scientist thinks that aliens will have to "catch" stars to survive

One scientist believes that future intelligent aliens could survive by collecting, storing and exploiting the power of stars.

Dan Hooper, a senior researcher at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, described the concept in a new document. He suggested that over the next 100 billion years, an intelligent extraterrestrial civilization will likely become isolated and in need of power as the universe continues to expand. In the document, Hooper explained that these extraterrestrials might need to use the stars as an alternative source of energy.

Hooper suggested that such a civilization would capture stars and extract their power using Dyson spheres – theoretical structures, originally described by sci-fi writer Olaf Stapledon in his novel "Star Maker" and popularized by physicist Freeman Dyson in his 1960 article "Searching for artificial stellar sources of infrared radiation." Dyson spheres are artificial structures made up of satellites that are essentially solar panels. They would theoretically be built to surround a star, surround it and capture its energy. [Dyson Spheres: How Advanced Alien Civilizations Would Conquer the Galaxy (Infographic)]

In his article, Hooper developed this idea by saying that an advanced civilization could "use the energy that is collected to propel these stars toward the center of civilization, where they would become gravitationally bound and thus protected from the planet." 39, future expansion of space. "

In a conversation with Space.com, Hooper revealed that he explored this wild, extraterrestrial possibility simply because he "thought it was cool and it would be fun."

Hooper said, "Because his article covers such a wild concept, it could get more people to be 'excited by science, especially young people,' and 'more people in our society are becoming more literate in the field of science, I think it does a lot of good, "he added.

Still, people might reject the idea that an intelligent extraterrestrial civilization could "catch" stars to meet their energy needs. But according to Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute who was not involved in Hooper's article, these people "do not think big enough".

Due to dark energy, the universe is expanding, and this process continues to accelerate, notes the paper. And "there is no limit to how quickly the space expands," Shostak told Space.com.

At least with humans, "almost all of the energy here on Earth is the result of the sun … with the exception of nuclear energy," Shostak added.

Thus, as space widens and stars move away from civilizations, these communities will probably need to find a way to capture and store this stellar energy, that these aliens are the gray and soft variety that we see in movies or less human. machines, said Shostak.

If smart aliens are like us, "they will run out of energy," Shostak said, adding, "I do not think there's anything crazy about it."

Hooper noted in his paper that something like this would probably not happen before 100 billion years ago. Meanwhile, because of dark energy, space would continue to expand enough to isolate a civilization, and such a civilization should also understand how to build a Dyson sphere, Hooper said.

The new document does not say with certainty that theoretical extraterrestrials could or will capture stars and exploit their power. However, the idea remains theoretically possible if you take into account two major hypotheses (not counting the existence of an intelligent extraterrestrial life): "1) a very advanced civilization will try to maximize its access to the Usable energy, and 2) our current understanding of black energy and its impact on the history of the future expansion of our universe is about right, "wrote Hooper in the newspaper.

The document is uploaded to the arXiv preprint server.

Email Chelsea Gohd to [email protected] or follow her @chelsea_gohd. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.