Are there aliens in space?
June 10th, 2009 by Grandpa OddballCopyright © GetOddNews and Grandpa Oddball June 10, 2009. All rights reserved.
That’s a very good question and I had to think about it a bit before answering.
The quick answer is that nobody knows for sure. By aliens I am assuming you mean extraterrrestial intelligent (or sentient) beings. Not only are we not sure if aliens exist but nobody can even be sure that extraterrestial life exists elsewhere in the universe. We know that no higher forms of life exist in our solar system and, so far, we haven’t found any other forms of life anywhere but here on Earth.
However, space is really vast and it’s probable that somewhere else in the universe life does exist. In fact the universe is so big that I would be surprised if aliens didn’t exist somewhere else but because the universe is so big it is unlikely that we will ever discover the truth. At the moment all we can do is speculate (or guess) about the answer.
What we do know, by studying the stars, is that most stars seem to have a nebula. And when we study nebula they all seem to have planets. In fact, it is starting to appear that planets around stars are pretty common although some of them are kind of weird (we have actually detected over 300 planets around some of our closest stars). With so many planets in the universe it is fairly likely that life and aliens have evolved elsewhere but nobody can prove it (this is an interesting problem and maybe when you get older you can solve it).
If current theories about the universe are anywhere close to correct we will likely never find out the answer. Our current understanding of the universe indicates that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. So how big is the universe? Well it takes about 8 minutes and 20 seconds for the light from the Sun to reach the Earth. All the sunlight outside your house left the Sun over eight minutes ago. Try watching a clock for eight minutes to get an idea of how long that is. In astronomical terms the distance from the Sun to the Earth is not very long. It takes over 4 years for the light from the closest star to reach us. Since nothing can even get close to the speed of light then if there were aliens on a planet going around the closest star it would take much longer than 4 years for them just to reach Earth (probably several of our lifetimes).
Most of the stars in the universe are even further away and the starlight we see left them before you were born. In fact, most of the starlight left their stars before the Sun and Earth were even created that’s how big the universe is. Not even aliens can violate the universe’s physical laws so unless they have discovered some new physical principle they are stuck on their star system just like we are.
Of course our current understanding of the universe may be wrong. Maybe if you study math and science hard, have enough skepticism and imagination, and a little luck you could be the next great scientist that unlocks more secrets of the universe. There is an awful lot we don’t understand yet.
this article with others.
Sounds like an inquiring mind or two is (are?) thinking of all kinds of possibilities! Wouldn’t it be fun to meet a friendly alien? What new things could we learn? What new ways of thinking would we find? – But, come to think of it, we have that chance now, too, as we get to know each other here on earth. There are so many interesting and fun people that meeting someone new is a bit like meeting an alien. So – maybe we are all aliens after all
[...] as mentioned above I doubt if we can ever find out for sure. Of course if our understanding of the universe’s physics is wrong and we are able to travel the universe and find life elsewhere or are contacted by alien [...]