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A comment on NASA’s Kepler Mission Discovers Bigger, Older Cousin to Earth. Parent comment

Re:NASA’s Kepler Mission Discovers Bigger, Older Cousin to E... by maaku on Friday July 24, 2015 @12:41AM (#9940144)
They can see stars. There wouldn't be stars in a type 2 civilization. There would be amorphous blackbody spectra which we do not see.
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Re:NASA’s Kepler Mission Discovers Bigger, Older Cousin to E... by rybosome on Friday July 24, 2015 @02:35AM (#9940394)
That assumes that civilizations derive power by encasing their host star in a Dyson sphere, which is not a foregone conclusion; that prediction was based on our current understanding if technology. Think of Huygens who imagined that Venusians sailed the seas on ships held together with hempen rope.
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Re:NASA’s Kepler Mission Discovers Bigger, Older Cousin to E... by vectorjohn on Friday July 24, 2015 @04:39PM (#9945033)
An "amorphous blackbody" source, from anything reasonably distant, just looks like a smaller star. There are a bunch of if's and unknowns involved, but it could be maybe possible to detect a Dyson sphere. This[1] article talks about it. The upshot is that it is nowhere near blindingly obvious, and we don't currently have the ability to differentiate between a natural or artificial infrared source.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere#Search_for_extra-...

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