Are we alone in the Universe?

Since the early ages of men, we questioned ourselves if we are alone in the universe… The first UFO sighting ( according to old history and data) was in Babylon milenia ago. I heard something about this history… but can’t remember… all I know is that he was brought into a strange machine in which he saw wheels, yes, wheels that spin at one side of the wall. He couldn’t remember what happened after that. When he woke up, he was laying in the field, but the machine had gone. He tried to convince others but they didn’t believe him. Would he be dreaming? We will never know… õ.õ

Another interesting case was that of the Roswell UFO crash… Some say that there were alien bodies scattered through the ground. American authorities came to investigate, but in the end they said it was just a meteorologic balloon… A meteorologic balloon or a UFO? We will never know… õ.õ again!

Many people say: “Aliens?! bah! That’s just lies, lies and lies… The government likes to keep the fear for our own safety, but not all fall for it” while others say: “Aliens are, of course, in our planet earth, and were here even before us! But they should have its home base millions of light-years from here” however my opinion is like this: “I strongly believe that we are not alone in the universe, that there are many others out there, closer than some people think, but not as far away as others do”.

Statistics reveal the following actually:

“Alien Civilizations? from the DK Book “Universe”

• A fair estimate would be 50 new stars per year in the Milky Way;
• Perhaps 50% of these star systems will develop planetary systems;
• On average maybe only 0.4 planets per system are habitable
• Life may well develop on 90% of habitable planets
• Possibly about 10% of new instances of life will develop intelligence
• Possibly only 10% of such life develops interstellar communications
• Some civilizations die before contact
• These civilizations might, on average, last 10 000 years
• 900 civilizations alive today

Conclusion: Using the estimates above, one might expect to be about 50 x 0,5 0′4 x 0,9 x 0,1 x 0,1 x 10 000 = 900 alien civilizations in our galaxy that, in theory, we should be able to communicate with. However, some of the estimates may be wildly wrong”.

When I first found this I stayed very surprised. It was great to know that there was someone out there… But it is just an estimate, not a true fact.

I actually believe that we should be able to find life very close actually, Mars for example. Mars should own water underground and also at one of its poles.This would be the enough, although I don’t think we can find intelligent life there. But there is a fact we must consider… WE, humans, only possess knowledge about one group of life forms: ours. This can actually be very relevant, for we do not know any other way life could spread… Is it possible that single cells exist in a place where oxygen does not? I believe so. We are too proud to assume that life could evolute in extreme places of the universe… In fact, you don’t need to search the universe high and low for such ways of life! You can find it here, on our old earth. Yes, you can find organisms living in boiling water at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge but also in deep caves with almost no oxygen and/or water but also such caves have an extreme cold!

Close to our planet we find moons and planets that could develop life… Titan, Europa, Mars, Enceladus etc… Titan is by far, the place where such is more probable, although not now… But say, about 500 million years from now, when the sun will be bigger. I read in a Portuguese magazine (Super Interessante) that if we colonize Mars right now, by the best of all chances, that it take about 600 years for it to be habitable

~ by lord8argos on April 4, 2008.