Some Sketches of Dyson Spheres
Early Stage in the Construction of a Dyson Sphere
Solar collectors are placed in orbit around a star, gathering energy for use in orbital colonies and factories around them (not visible on this picture). As they become more numerous, they are gathered into bands inclined to each other to limit shading.
Late Stage in Construction
The star is now almost completely enclosed by solar collectors gathering most of its output. The bands of collectors have slightly different radii, giving the system a shell-like appearance.
Some notes on these pictures
- The solar collector plates and the bands are much too big compared to their orbits and the star. In reality they would be tiny specks, but they are exaggerated to be visible (and limit the load on my raytracer).
- The differences in radius for each belt are also exaggerated. In reality it would be hard to distinguish the shell from a sphere. But it looks nice!
- The solar collectors will certainly not be this reflective, at least on the inside. Most probably they will be rather dark on the inside and reflective on the outside, covered with radiator systems.
- I doubt that the orbiting collectors will be uniform like in this image. Most probably the various parts will be built during different eras, and reflect different uses (advanced, high-energy input collectors in the innermost orbit, low-cost collectors gathering scrap energy farther out).
Other Images
Up to the Megatechnology Page
Up to the Transhuman Page
Anders Main Page
Anders Sandberg / asa@nada.kth.se
Drawing of a Dyson Sphere in the solar system (Figure 1 of Detectability of Extraterrestrial Technological Activities by Guillermo A. Lemarchand).
Ringworld Images by James W. Williams. Renditions of the classic Niven ringworld. This is a single structure orbiting a star, similar to a linked band in my model. It rotates so that the centifugal acceleration gives rise 1 G at the surface. Unfortunately it requires a hypothetical supermaterial to work...