The search for alien life takes many forms, from identifying Earth-like planets to scanning for extraterrestrial signals.

One explanation for the behavior was an alien megastructure called a "Dyson swarm." Now, that possibility has been ruled out. So, what's actually going on? To find out, scientists used telescopes ...

Here the use of loosely coupled objects, in say a ring formation, could be in an orbit around the star, yet otherwise fulfill the requirements of a so-called Dyson swarm of independent structures.

A Dyson sphere would likely be a swarm of solar collectors rather than a solid shell. This "Dyson swarm" would be mechanically stable and resistant to damage. Dyson swarms could be detected by ...

A more promising concept is a Dyson Swarm, which is a similar idea, except it would consist of several solar panels orbiting the star, essentially like a network of satellites. From a distance ...