25 years until the end of the world!
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 61
Likes: 0
From: Baltimore, MD
Vehicle: 01 Elantra
25 years until the end of the world!
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/...searcher-says/
Humanity will detect aliens by 2040, researcher says
Intelligent extraterrestrial beings are out there, and we’ll be meeting them shortly – perhaps within the next 25 years, according to one scientist.
A researcher for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence says humanity will detect aliens by the year 2040, LiveScience.com reports.
That’s because, by then, astronomers will have scanned enough star systems to detect alien-produced electromagnetic signals.
“I think we’ll find E.T. within two dozen years using these sorts of experiments,” SETI’s Seth Shostak said during a Feb. 6 discussion at the 2014 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts symposium at Stanford University. “Instead of looking at a few thousand star systems, which is the tally so far, we will have looked at maybe a million star systems” by 2040, he said.
Part of Shostak’s confidence is based on progress made by NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope, which has turned up evidence that the Milky Way galaxy is packed with worlds capable of supporting life as we know it.
Shostak believes one in five stars has at least one planet where life might be possible – a “fantastically large percentage” that means there are potentially tens of billions of Earth-like worlds in the galaxy.
And if, on some of those worlds, intelligent life exists, then they’re probably doing what we’re doing, Shostak said – sending out radio transmissions as they listen, patiently and alertly, for someone to make contact with them.
Intelligent extraterrestrial beings are out there, and we’ll be meeting them shortly – perhaps within the next 25 years, according to one scientist.
A researcher for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence says humanity will detect aliens by the year 2040, LiveScience.com reports.
That’s because, by then, astronomers will have scanned enough star systems to detect alien-produced electromagnetic signals.
“I think we’ll find E.T. within two dozen years using these sorts of experiments,” SETI’s Seth Shostak said during a Feb. 6 discussion at the 2014 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts symposium at Stanford University. “Instead of looking at a few thousand star systems, which is the tally so far, we will have looked at maybe a million star systems” by 2040, he said.
Part of Shostak’s confidence is based on progress made by NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope, which has turned up evidence that the Milky Way galaxy is packed with worlds capable of supporting life as we know it.
Shostak believes one in five stars has at least one planet where life might be possible – a “fantastically large percentage” that means there are potentially tens of billions of Earth-like worlds in the galaxy.
And if, on some of those worlds, intelligent life exists, then they’re probably doing what we’re doing, Shostak said – sending out radio transmissions as they listen, patiently and alertly, for someone to make contact with them.
Administrator
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 12,515
Likes: 2
From: Lacey, WA
Vehicle: Two Accents, Mini, Miata, Van, Outback, and a ZX-6
I think it's tough to put a timeline on things, but it's inevitably going to happen IMO.
I'm 90% certain we will have confirmed simple extraterrestrial life within our solar system before 2040.
I'm 90% certain we will have confirmed simple extraterrestrial life within our solar system before 2040.
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 4,185
Likes: 0
From: Atlanta, GA
Vehicle: MC + RD2 + AW11 + 944 = 4x Win
I'm a little shocked we haven't found definitive proof of microbial life in our own solar system already. Even Ceres has water vapor in its atmosphere, and we've recently discovered lifeforms that supposedly aren't even carbon based (though that is under investigation.)
Intelligent life on the other hand is a hard thing to see happening that soon. If we do discover anyone else out there, they won't be near our technological level. If significantly intelligent life were that plentiful and easy to locate, let alone confirm, contact would have already been initiated.
Either way it's an exciting time to be alive. The discoveries to come should be phenomenal.
Intelligent life on the other hand is a hard thing to see happening that soon. If we do discover anyone else out there, they won't be near our technological level. If significantly intelligent life were that plentiful and easy to locate, let alone confirm, contact would have already been initiated.
Either way it's an exciting time to be alive. The discoveries to come should be phenomenal.
Administrator
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 23,226
Likes: 9
From: Upstate NY
Vehicle: 2010 Genesis 2.0T
Do you guys realize what the religious organizations of the world are going to do when it becomes public that life has been found? Especially the Catholics! It's going to be insanity!
Administrator
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 12,515
Likes: 2
From: Lacey, WA
Vehicle: Two Accents, Mini, Miata, Van, Outback, and a ZX-6
This pope is pretty cool.
I think it'll come down to most of the microscopic lifeforms in the inner solar system being similar enough that it'll be difficult to definitively call life extraterrestrial.
I think it'll come down to most of the microscopic lifeforms in the inner solar system being similar enough that it'll be difficult to definitively call life extraterrestrial.