Orbital shutter as a beacon for interstellar communication

[VACUUMIST]

Summary:: Hypotetical structure in the style of Dyson ring

In the style of Dyson's proposal of an orbital superstructure, I wonder if in the specialized literature wasn't suggested that an evolved civilization could make a kind of orbital shutter, in order to delivery optical signals, modulating the light emitted by their star.
A large area, low mass structure, as a beacon visible to other civilizations looking for planets around stars.

 

[member 656954]

It seems a very large undertaking for a communications method that radio waves or lasers would probably do a better job of. But as an arts project - the "God winking at the Universe" installation - it has merit! Actually, Jack McDevitt has something along those lines in his Priscilla Hutchins novels.

 

[berkeman]

Summary:: Hypotetical structure in the style of Dyson ring

In the style of Dyson's proposal of an orbital superstructure, I wonder if in the specialized literature wasn't suggested that an evolved civilization could make a kind of orbital shutter, in order to delivery optical signals, modulating the light emitted by their star.
A large area, low mass structure, as a beacon visible to other civilizations looking for planets around stars.

Yes, interesting idea. I wonder what kind of modulation would be the most likely to get picked up by observatories on other worlds. You'd probably want to send a string of the first n prime numbers with simple on-off keying or something, perhaps followed by a more sophisticated short message. You'd want to calculate how long a single observatory at some distance away would be able to see the modulated brightness, in order to guide the length of the repeating message.

Since early astronomy used time-exposures, those would not be able to detect such modulation, though. What observatory/recording technologies do we have now that would be able to see such modulations?

 

[mfb]

What observatory/recording technologies do we have now that would be able to see such modulations?

Exoplanet searches. They are looking for large opaque objects orbiting the star. TESS takes images of selected stars every 2 minutes, most other observations are longer.

Tabby's star has light curve modulations so strong and irregular that some people have speculated if this could be from some artificial megastructures.

 

[berkeman]

Tabby's star has light curve modulations so strong and irregular that some people have speculated if this could be from some artificial megastructures.

Gotta love the sense of humor...

Tabby's Star (also known as Boyajian's Star and WTF Star, and designated KIC 8462852 in the Kepler Input Catalog)