For lovers of astronomy and those dreaming of one day seeing proof of alien life somewhere out in the universe, recent word from NASA’s top scientists may well be igniting fresh hope. With two new telescopes ready to be launched by 2018, NASA is confident that alien life will be found within the next twenty years.
However, for those hoping for proof of little green men, there may be disappointment. Not only are the first signs of life not necessarily going to be anything we are familiar with, but the space agency expects that when life is found it will be outside the limits of our own solar system.
Near Certainty
The chances of us being alone in the universe are rather remote. After all, with 300 billion stars in the milky way alone, many of which have multiple planets orbiting them, and with billions of galaxies in the universe, the chances of life only being found here on earth are rather slim. With a mind-boggling number of planets out there on which life could have begun, it is both myopic and somewhat megalomaniacal to believe that ours can be the only planet hosting life.
What life is likely to be found is still a mystery. It could be as simple as alien bacteria or as troubling as an intellectual species with far greater capabilities than our own. After all, our own sun is relatively young and in turn the life on other planets may well have been given a very impressive head start.
Limitations
Up until now, scientists have been limited as to what they can observe in the universe. Whilst Kepler found hundreds of new planets in just a matter of months, a number of which had the potential to pay host to some form of life, the telescope could only see very large worlds and could give no indication as to the makeup of the planet or its atmosphere.
This is where new technology will come to the fore. Two new telescopes due for launch in 2017 and 2018 are expected to make Kepler pale by comparison, between them being able to locate hundreds of thousands of new worlds and understand the conditions on the planets. In turn, spotting biological markers and knowing if alien life resides or has resided on a planet will be far easier, and it is therefore likely to be only a matter of time before we discover signs of life somewhere out there in the universe.
At Sherwoods, we are constantly turning our eyes to the skies, and while we might not be competing with NASA in terms of how far we can see and how easily we could spot alien lifeforms, with so much still to see in our own galactic backyard, and with amateur astronomical telescopes improving all the time, there is no denying that now is one of the most exciting times in history to set our eyes on the universe. Who knows, there might even be creatures out there somewhere staring back at us.
For lovers of astronomy and those dreaming of one day seeing proof of alien life somewhere out in the universe, recent word from NASA’s top scientists may well be igniting fresh hope. With two new telescopes ready to be launched by 2018, NASA is confident that alien life will be found within the next twenty years.However, for those hoping for proof of little green men, there may be disappointment. Not only are the first signs of life not necessarily going to be anything we are familiar with, but the space agency expects that when life is found it will be outside the limits of our own solar system.Near CertaintyThe chances of us being alone in the universe are rather remote. After all, with 300 billion stars in the milky way alone, many of which have multiple planets orbiting them, and with billions of galaxies in the universe, the chances of life only being found here on earth are rather slim. With a mind-boggling number of planets out there on which life could have begun, it is both myopic and somewhat megalomaniacal to believe that ours can be the only planet hosting life.What life is likely to be found is still a mystery. It could be as simple as alien bacteria or as troubling as an intellectual species with far greater capabilities than our own. After all, our own sun is relatively young and in turn the life on other planets may well have been given a very impressive head start.LimitationsUp until now, scientists have been limited as to what they can observe in the universe. Whilst Kepler found hundreds of new planets in just a matter of months, a number of which had the potential to pay host to some form of life, the telescope could only see very large worlds and could give no indication as to the makeup of the planet or its atmosphere.This is where new technology will come to the fore. Two new telescopes due for launch in 2017 and 2018 are expected to make Kepler pale by comparison, between them being able to locate hundreds of thousands of new worlds and understand the conditions on the planets. In turn, spotting biological markers and knowing if alien life resides or has resided on a planet will be far easier, and it is therefore likely to be only a matter of time before we discover signs of life somewhere out there in the universe.At Sherwoods, we are constantly turning our eyes to the skies, and while we might not be competing with NASA in terms of how far we can see and how easily we could spot alien lifeforms, with so much still to see in our own galactic backyard, and with amateur astronomical telescopes improving all the time, there is no denying that now is one of the most exciting times in history to set our eyes on the universe. Who knows, there might even be creatures out there somewhere staring back at us.