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Aliens ‘might be stealing stars’ to fuel mega-spaceships (and we could spot them)

Are aliens stealing our stars to fuel their Dyson Spheres? (Flickr)
Are aliens stealing our stars to fuel their Dyson Spheres? (Flickr)

Aliens might be towing stars away to fuel huge mega-spaceships – and stockpiling them as the universe expands, a new paper has suggested.

The reason they might be stockpiling stars is that our universe is expanding at enormous speed – and 100 billion years from now, each area of the universe will be isolated.

Aliens might be grabbing stars while they still can to fuel ‘Dyson Spheres’ – huge machines which surround and draw power from stars.

It sounds surreal, but it could actually help us spot ET, suggests a new paper by astrophysicist Dan Hooper.

Hooper reckons aliens might use stars as fuel for Death Star-like mega-spaceships known as Dyson Spheres – and might be laying in supplies so they have a few to burn.

This is where our stars might end up (Flickr)
This is where our stars might end up (Flickr)

The researchers write, ‘The presence of dark energy in our universe is causing space to expand at an accelerating rate.

‘As a result, over the next approximately 100 billion years, all stars residing beyond the Local Group will fall beyond the cosmic horizon and become not only unobservable, but entirely inaccessible, thus limiting how much energy could one day be extracted from them.’

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So aliens might be whisking stars off to keep themselves fuelled – using technologies so advanced they’re barely imaginable.

If they are, we’ll be able to spot them, Hooper says.

‘This would not be a subtle activity,’ he says.

If it is happening, aliens are likely to move small stars (as big ones burn out too quickly) – so we might be able to spot them by their absence, Hooper reckons.