A Dyson Sphere is a superstructure that encapsulates the sun and captures its energy. Thought up by British American theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson; he assumed it would’ve been constructed by an advanced alien society. Its purpose would be to generate enough energy to fund long colonial expeditions to other planets. Many think of it as a big Death Star built around the sun, but saying that this is the case would be totally wrong.

​

A Dyson Sphere is rather an intricate, massive series of heat-resistant satellite-solar panels that can withstand the sun’s intense surface temperature of about 5,800 K. To create enough of these solar panels to encapsulate our sun, we’d most likely need to set up a station on Mercury, as it is closest to the sun, making it easier to shoot out the panels into orbit around the sun, and should have enough materials to create all of the panels needed. Starting with just one of these many solar panels, it would take 60 doubling times to create enough to effectively cover the sun (but not totally; the panels should be evenly spaced out from one another as they orbit).

​

Despite it being vividly drawn out as to how a Dyson Sphere could harness a sun’s energy, there is no clear answer as to how it could transfer this energy back to the society that is using it. Perhaps there could be a way to chart the satellite-solar panels back to where they were sent out before they overheat with energy, or maybe an energy cargo ship of sorts could make regular visits to parts of the Dyson Sphere and absorb some energy. Maybe in a century or two, we’ll figure things out.