Alien civilisations could move their star to avoid a cosmic disaster

By Jonathan O’Callaghan

Moving a star is no easy task

Anthony Brown / Alamy

Advanced alien civilisations could build a machine capable of moving a star – and we might be able to catch them in action.

The idea, thought up by Alexander Svoronos at Yale University, is called a Star Tug and would allow civilisations to avoid cosmic disasters.

“It’s a megastructure that can be used to move an entire star system,” says Svoronos, “If their star system is going to be in proximity of a supernova, they might want to try to avoid it.”

The idea of moving stars isn’t new. …