NASA discovers 715 new planets

[StarSword]

That would be in case of full hard shell Dyson sphere which is not realistic. A realistic Dyson swarm would consist of multiple solar power sattellites orbiting close to a star intercepting some fraction of stellar output. Question then is how extensive that swarm should be for astronomers to notice something weird is happening.

The real trick is being able to tell that the star is actually being blocked instead of being dim. Conventionally dim stars do exist, and our most effective method of detecting planets (the partial-eclipse-by-planet trick used by Kepler) relies on detecting changes in intensity. How do you detect something that's there all the time?

[Sky Captain]

That would be in case of full hard shell Dyson sphere which is not realistic. A realistic Dyson swarm would consist of multiple solar power sattellites orbiting close to a star intercepting some fraction of stellar output. Question then is how extensive that swarm should be for astronomers to notice something weird is happening.

The real trick is being able to tell that the star is actually being blocked instead of being dim. Conventionally dim stars do exist, and our most effective method of detecting planets (the partial-eclipse-by-planet trick used by Kepler) relies on detecting changes in intensity. How do you detect something that's there all the time?

Captured solar energy would eventually be reradiated as infrared. Given dense enough Dyson swarm there should be some spectral anomaly showing up. Like too much infrared for that type of star. Question is where is the treshold above which it would be noticable. For example capturing even 0,05 % of stellar output would give civilization access to tremendous amount of power. Perhaps far more than they ever would need. Would 0,05 % increase in infrared radiation show up as anomaly or simply be within the treshold of normal stellar fluctuations.