Editing Megastructure (section)

===Stellar scale===
[[File:Dyson Sphere Diagram-en.svg|thumb|A cut-away diagram of an idealized [[Dyson shell]]—a variant on Dyson's original concept—1 [[Astronomical unit|AU]] in radius.]]
Most stellar scale megastructure proposals are designs to make use of the energy from a sun-like star while possibly still providing gravity or other attributes that would make it attractive for an advanced civilization.
* The [[Alderson disk]] is a theoretical structure in the shape of a disk, whose outer radius is equivalent to the orbit of Mars or Jupiter and whose thickness is several thousand kilometers. A civilization could live on either side, held by the gravity of the disk and still receive sunlight from a star bobbing up and down in the middle of the disk.
* A [[Dyson sphere]] (also known as a Dyson shell) refers to a structure or mass of orbiting objects that completely surrounds a star to make full use of its solar energy.
* A [[Matrioshka brain]] is a collection of multiple [[concentric]] Dyson spheres which make use of star's energy for [[computing]].
* A [[Stellar engine]] either uses the temperature difference between a star and interstellar space to extract energy or serves as a [[Shkadov thruster]].
* A [[Stellar engine#Class A (Shkadov thruster)|Shkadov thruster]] accelerates an entire star through space by selectively reflecting or absorbing light on one side of it.
* [[Topopolis]] (also known as Cosmic Spaghetti) is a large tube that rotates to provide artificial gravity.
* A [[Ringworld]] (also known as a [[Larry Niven|Niven]] Ring or a [[Freeman Dyson|Dyson]] Ring) is an artificial ring encircling a star, rotating faster than orbital velocity to create artificial gravity on its inner surface. A non-rotating variant is a transparent ring of breathable gas, creating a continuous microgravity environment around the star, as in the eponymous [[The Smoke Ring (novel)|Smoke Ring]].

Related structures which might not be classified as individual stellar megastructures, but occur on a similar scale:

* A [[Dyson sphere#Dyson swarm|Dyson swarm]] is a Dyson sphere made up of separately orbiting elements (including large habitats) rather than a single continuous shell.
* A [[Dyson sphere#Dyson bubble|Dyson bubble]] is a Dyson sphere in which the individual elements are [[statite]]s, non-orbital objects held aloft by the [[Solar sail|pressure of sunlight]].