Aliens and The Probability of Life on Other Planets

The issue ‘Is there life on other planets?” started since the start of the human obsession with the outer space, and is still waiting for a reply. The Catholic Church violently punished early astronomers seeking life on other planets. People have seen these astronomers as heretics for years for going against the church and undesirable, but there may be proof today that supports those astronomers. We discover today that individuals are still divided or not divided between believing in alien existence. People who are dedicated to religion tend to disagree with the option of living anywhere other than Earth as it goes against their convictions. However, as realistic films about aliens and plausible theories increase, many young individuals begin to think that after all, life on other planets does not seem so radical. Scientists are finding more and more predictive proof every day that causes most of them to think that other planets have life.

Some theorists say that aliens have been around since the early civilizations. These theorists have studied the history of early civilizations and have said to find historical and religious texts filled with ancient alien connections. Theorists have been said to be able to decode ancient painting of aliens and their spaceships. According to the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens “Swiss author Erik Von Daniken put forth a hypothesis that, thousands of years ago, space travelers from other planets visited Earth, where they taught humans about technology and ancient religions.” The pyramids of Egypt are so complex to build at the time with limited technology, that these theorists believe that the ancient aliens came down and helped the Egyptians build them. Theorists also believe that aliens went to places like Easter Island and built the statues, as well as other early civilizations in South America.

The early appearance of life on Earth suggests that there’s a good chance of spontaneous generation of life in suitable condition. As far as scientific research goes, scientists have been able to find some evidence that may lead to the finding life in the future. First of all, let’s start with the elements needed for life. Scientists have been able to find that oxygen and carbon exist on other planets. Scientists have found a planet that they believe is like Earth but bigger and with extreme weather conditions. “Researcher from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University assume that there are around sixty million potentially habitable planets in the Milky Way” (Arnold). Water is a key component in order for the sustainability of life. According to NBC News, in our solar system alone, scientists have detected water on Mars and on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Not to mention that life tends to survive in the worst conditions, as life survives in the deep depths of the dark ocean. There is possibility that life could exist in the water of these planets and moons in our galaxy. According to Roudman, Scientists specifically look for habitable planets around red dwarf stars. They believe that the first planet to be found life on would around a red dwarf star. According to many scientists, around fifty percent of red dwarf stars should have a planet in the habitable zone. Red dwarf stars are definitely targets if one is interested in finding planets that support life. However, red dwarf stars share danger from radiation. Also, NBC News confirms that NASA has come across radio signals that have been picked up by the radio telescope. However, scientists attribute the signals to human interference from satellites. Nevertheless, NASA plans on launching the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite to look for planets. We are still at a starting point for the exploration of planet-life.

Earth, our planet, is one of billions of planets in our forever growing universe. The possibility of life on other planets is very likely. However, the possibility of them visiting us, or us traveling to them, is very unlikely. For other life, it would be difficult for them to get past satellites and space junk to visit Earth. Even though people claim to have spotted UFOs, it is their word against others and cannot clearly be identified to be considered as solid evidence. As for us, the law of physics is universal which means that travel is almost impossible. The speed of light travels at speeds impossible for humans and it would take light years just to reach another solar system. There’s also the possibility that aliens can’t or don’t visit us, just like we can’t visit them. Whether life on other planets exists, there is no way for us to visit them for the time being.

Although the thought of small green men in spaceships has generally been declined. People still are swayed to believe that there is life on other planets. Even if there is no evidence that proves the existence of aliens, realistic, convincing movies tend to sway people toward the belief of alien existence. Popular culture has created a fad about aliens and has increased the curiosity of humans to find out the truth about other life in the universe. Another factor that has only further increased curiosity is Area 51. Area 51 is a United States military base where many advocates of alien life theorize that the government is hiding information about extraterrestrials. Even if Area 51 is just a conspiracy theory, the thought behind it made the possibility of aliens even more interesting and made people even more curious. The probability of life on other planets has still yet to be figured out. There’s always the possibility that Earth truly is the only with life and all these theories would go to waste.

Some people suggest that life came to Earth from elsewhere. They believe that life existed before Earth and went on to grow to other planets after Earth. These same people believe that there are seeds of life in the universe. With the abundance of planets and galaxies in the universe, it is also likely that we have overlooked planets with life. We also could have assumed that some planets are unable to sustain life and ignore them when in reality they might have life on them. There is also the possibility that life on other planets might be weird or threatening to humans. In that case, finding extraterrestrials would prove to be destructive.

All in all, the controversial mystery of life on other planets is still yet to be discovered. Although scientists have found a lot of predictive evidence, it is not enough to put pieces together and correctly say that there is life on other planets. However, there is no evidence that clearly shows that life on other planets is impossible. The struggle for scientists is the lack of technology there is in order to travel to other galaxies or see passed our galaxy on to other galaxies clearly. Even if life did exist, there is the possibility that aliens don’t want to be found or we may have overlooked them. However, space exploration is still at its early stages and there is a bright future ahead. The future may hold new opportunities such as technological advances that will allow us to visit other galaxies. There’s also the possibility that life only exists on Earth, which would make the scientific exploration a bust. The future may hold surprising evidence that could declare either belief of this mystery to be deemed as the truth. However, for now, the mystery lives on unsolved and evenly split between two sides. 

Works Cited

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