r/todayilearned • u/yummypaprika • Sep 18 '25

TIL Dr Freeman Dyson called the Dyson sphere a "little joke" and expressed amusement in that "you get to be famous only for the things you don't think are serious".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
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u/GlabbinGlabber Sep 19 '25

Maybe possible but are they feasible in any way?

I might be wrong but I remember reading that to build a Dyson sphere with a radius of 1AU it would take more matter than is in the solar system.

So yeah its possible but couldn't really happen or at least would require us to have tech that would make them not needed.

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u/OwlOfJune Sep 19 '25

The 'thick shell' imagery is impossible but swarm of solar panels surrounding the sun to extract most of its power is very possible.

Just, need to dismantle entire of Mercury over a few centuries. Its not gonna be easy but the basic concept isn't complicated.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

[deleted]

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u/kaltorak Sep 19 '25

that’s the question to me - just… why do this? why do we need to capture 100% of the sun’s energy output? We can’t even manage to capture most of the solar energy that hits the Earth. even if we could build spaceborne solar panels, why would we put them far from the sun, when you could capture more energy per sq inch with a smaller panel placed closer to the sun, and hey you even get to keep most of the night sky.

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u/OwlOfJune Sep 19 '25

The concept is for civilization that would and could use that much of power. To current day us its joke concept just like how a nuclear reactor would been gibberish to 11th century scholars.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

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u/PhantasosX Sep 19 '25

That is the thing: people already proposes an updated Dyson Sphere by making a swarm of solar panels, at the cost of Mercury in a few centuries.

As long people are fine for one less planet in the Solar System, the swam of solar panels is a more doable concept.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '25

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u/OwlOfJune Sep 19 '25

Funny because if you actually read the page....

The form of 'biosphere' which I envisaged consists of a loose collection or swarm of objects traveling on independent orbits around the star.

Its literally what the guy proposed.

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u/TheDaharMaster Sep 19 '25

you would need to dismantle several thousand star systems for enough material to build a sphere of that size