> See the Dyson sphere FAQ for more details:
> http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/dysonFAQ.html
Excellent FAQ, thanks.
A few more things come to mind:
o What is the minimal distance from Sun at which a (diamondoid?)
statite can preserve its crystalline structure? Is melting
point or radiation damage the limiting factor? (In case of a
red giant it might be possible to sail inside the star for a
while.)
o Outgoing radiation doesn't have to have a blackbody spectrum.
Lasing comes to mind, or one could heat up relatively small
radiators to a very high temperature.
o As a matter of fact, outgoing radiation doesn't have to be
radiation at all, what about gas cooling? A statite close to
the star could cool itself by accelerating gas from the corona,
eating away its host.
--d(isn't physics fun when you don't have to give answers)v