Astronomer believes that we will detect alien life by 2040

Do you believe there are beings from another planet and it is silly to think that we are the only intelligent population in the universe? There are those who believe, but there are also those who are not so sure about that. However, an astronomer (who is on the team who believe in alien life) has stated that we can detect ETs in the very near future.

According to Seth Shostak - from SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute) of Mountain View, Calif. - the first detection of intelligent extraterrestrial life will probably arrive in the year 2040. According to his claims, astronomers will have by that time. digitized enough star systems to detect alien electromagnetic signals.

"I think we'll find beings from another planet within two dozen years using these kinds of experiences, " Shostak said on February 6, 2014, during a talk at the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) symposium, which took place at Stanford University.

Considerations and Arguments

For Shostak, the ability to observe a much more significant number of star systems is what will make the difference in finding signals.

According to Space.com, Shostak's optimism is based in part on observations from NASA's Kepler space telescope, which showed that the Milky Way is probably filled with life-supporting worlds as we know it.

"The point is that one in five stars has at least one planet where life can exist. That's a fabulously large percentage and that means that in our galaxy there can be tens of billions of Earth-like worlds, " the astronomer said.

Shostak and his colleagues believe that at least some of these worlds harbor intelligent aliens, who have developed the ability to send electromagnetic signals to the cosmos. So researchers are aiming radio detectors skyward, hoping to catch something produced by ETs.

This research began in 1960, when astronomer Frank Drake examined (and recorded) two sun-like stars with a 26-meter antenna in West Virginia. These findings have increased considerably over the past half century, with astronomers making the most of significant advances in electronics and digital technology.

However, getting enough funding to maintain the sky rating is a constant problem. For example, the Allen Telescope Array in Northern California - which the SETI Institute uses - was designed to consist of 350 radio radars, but only 42 have been built to date.

The status of the funding affects any discussion of SETI's activities and schedules, according to Shostak. His predicted estimate for 2040, for example, depends on continued SETI funding, which is missing now, according to his interview with Space.com.

Life in space

That there are life forms off Earth - from a biological point of view, such as microorganisms - as well as chemical elements, metals and even water, has already been proven in some observations. After all, the search for alien life is not just about technological societies.

Many other scientists are focusing on simple life forms, which should be distributed much more commonly throughout the universe. The first evidence of microbial life on Earth, for example, dates back to 3.8 billion years - just 700 million years after our planet formed.

But it took another 1.7 billion years for multicellular life to evolve. Human beings did not emerge until 200, 000 years ago, and we have just become a truly “technological” species from the last century, practically.