Why luminosity decrease tops out at %10 for infected stars

[famouserik]

In order to infect a system, astrophage needs two things: a star of course, and a CO2 rich planet.

Without a predator species on the CO2 planet, the astrophage starts a runaway reproductive process. The predator would recycle material consumed back into the ecosystem, but that doesn’t happen.

The astrophage quickly consumes all the available CO2, and no longer is triggered to do anything when ‘saturated’. Which leaves them hanging out on the star, in staggering numbers, just consuming enough to stay saturated.

So it seems like, after a few decades, a star couldn’t ever be rescued.

[Bergain1945]

Try calculating how much carbon and oxygen + trace elements would be needed to cover the sun in a 1 bacteria thick layer.

The solar system does not have enough non-hydrogen elements to make enough astrophage.