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To: LibWhacker

“Is the solar-system sized bubble in the Consellation Cygnus a planetary nebulae or could it be an “AC” or astroengineering construction, also known as a Dyson sphere, named after Freeman Dyson of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study who proposed the theory?”

No it could not, for two reasons.

First, it’s transparent (you can see stars through most of it), hence it is not absorbing the central star’s radiation and re-radiating in the infrared.

Second, Dyson spheres have been shown to be unstable over time, the central star’s gravity would cause it to collapse or at least impact the star.

Even a “ringworld” type construct would require active stabilization.


21 posted on 02/05/2010 4:46:23 AM PST by PreciousLiberty (In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they're not.)
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To: PreciousLiberty
In addition to your remarks, I would add that structures such as a RingWorld or Dyson Sphere would require materials capable of withstanding stresses far beyond anything even theoretically possible.
22 posted on 02/05/2010 5:20:14 AM PST by Joe Brower (Sheep have three speeds: "graze", "stampede" and "cower".)
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To: PreciousLiberty; Joe Brower

I’m pretty sure I read something from Dyson himself that he had been mis-understood by sci-fi writers into thinking that he had meant a solid spherical structure whereas he had actually meant more of a swarm of habitats that would orbit indepentently and absorb the energy from their star.


28 posted on 02/05/2010 7:10:05 AM PST by techcor (I hope Obama succeeds... in becoming a one term president.)
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To: PreciousLiberty; All

My sci fi roomie made the transparency argument. However, is it possible that a civilization could create a dust veil bubble as an interstellar signal which would allow stars to shine through. I would like to ask my friend, but he said, “be quiet, I am studying the market” ;-)

Also, since you seem pretty knowledgeable, what do you think it might be?


35 posted on 02/05/2010 9:37:33 PM PST by gleeaikin
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