Question: Do you know what a dyson sphere is and if you do, what is the most stable structure?

Emma Davies answered on 13 Jun 2019:

Yes I do know what they are – fascinating! Dyson spheres are a really interesting idea to capture as much energy from the Sun (or any other star) as possible, with the thinking that the more advanced a society is, the more energy it needs. It’d be pretty much impossible to have a solid sphere or shell around a star. The easiest way would be to send many spacecraft to orbit the star in a ring formation, but this wouldn’t get you as much energy. The best formation would be the Dyson Bubble but it’d be too complicated for all the spacecraft to orbit the star – imagine if one affected another and they all crashed into one another causing a chain reaction! So in this formation, all the spacecraft would have to stay still and fight the forces trying to move them, which we currently don’t have the materials or technology for!