An expert is claiming that intelligent aliens could be hiding on Dyson spheres circling white dwarf stars throughout the Milky Way.

Ben Zuckerman, who teaches physics and astronomy at the University of California Los Angeles, is the co-author of a new study exploring these ideas and more.

Zuckerman believes this is where the search for extraterrestrials should be focusing, according to Live Science.

Aliens have not yet been discovered elsewhere.

But the professor doesn’t believe that possible alien civilizations would go through the trouble of traveling to a new star if only to build a Dyson sphere.

He believes instead that the spheres would be built around a civilization’s home star – which will eventually become white dwarfs.

Dyson spheres are hypothetical constructions that entirely encompass a star. The spheres also capture a large percentage of their solar power output.

The spheres are named after Freeman Dyson, a famous physicist.

A white dwarf is a small, dense star that is usually the size of a planet.

Zuckerman believes that by searching this way, by looking for Dyson spheres, astronomers may also be able to estimate the number of advanced civilizations there are in the galaxy.

To date, only a small fraction of white dwarfs have been measured by astronomers.

But by this logic, if aliens build Dyson spheres around their white dwarfs, astronomers should be able to see at least one Dyson sphere in their research.

If none are seen, that means only a finite number of alien civilizations are building the spheres around the dwarfs.

However, some aliens could decide not to build Dyson spheres.

Other aliens may build spheres around other types of stars as well.

But Zuckerman believes that advanced alien civilizations building Dyson spheres around their white dwarf is the most likely outcome, and continues to push for search in that direction.

This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.