In our favorite films, aliens take various forms. From little grey men to acid-spewing monsters, our imaginations can run wild with the possibilities. What would life on other planets look like? What it could mean for us here on earth? While some would rather believe there is no such thing as aliens, others are thrilled by the scientific evidence pointing to the just the contrary. Even more interesting is the diversity of our discoveries. From unidentified aircraft in our skies to microorganisms on other planets, the data tells us we are not alone. In this article, we explore three compelling reasons to believe there is life on other planets.
1) Declassified UFO Footage
In early 2020, the U.S. Department of Defense made a shocking announcement. The leaked 2004 and 2015 videos that were captured by naval pilots over the Pacific and off the East Coast were legitimate. These videos showed unidentified flying objects (UFOs). That’s right, the Pentagon officially declassified and confirmed the footage was real.
In one video, one of the foreign aircrafts rotates against the wind, both confusing and impressing the pilots. They describe watching the UFO “defy the laws of physics”.
The Pentagon also revealed a five-year program on the study of crashed UFOs. They have gone on record saying the recovered materials from these sites are not of this earth, suggesting their belief in life on other planets.
“I’m glad the Pentagon is finally releasing this footage, but it only scratches the surface of research and materials available.”
Former Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada
Check out the footage below with the sound on.
2) SETI Received A Mysterious Radio Signal Three Times From the Same Area Of Space
The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization that incorporated in 1984. Their mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe. SETI stands for the “search for extraterrestrial intelligence” and it aims for discovery and for sharing knowledge as scientific ambassadors to the public, the press, and the government. Over the years, they have added other research disciplines to the Institute’s portfolio, all unified by their relevance to the search for, and understanding of, life beyond Earth. Today, the Institute has approximately 100 scientists and specialists in administration, education, and outreach.
In 2003, a group of astronomers with SETI focused their attention on a specific area of the sky which had picked up unidentified radio signals. Using an enormous telescope in Puerto Rico, they searched 200 mapped out areas in space. They found that all of the signals had vanished. Except one. Strangely, the single remaining signal had gotten stronger.
This is about to get a little “science-y”, but stick with me. The signal’s location came from the spot between the constellations Pisces and Aries and was transmitting at the same frequency that hydrogen absorbs and emits energy. Why is this important? If intelligent life from other planets were trying to communicate with other intelligent life in the cosmos, they would need to find a frequency that they’d share in common. The most common element in the galaxy is hydrogen. Surely us humans would notice it. And we did.
Hello, neighbor!
3) Mars, Venus, And Jupiter’s Moon Are Showing Elements Of Organic Life
Photo by: ESA & MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA, CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
Mars
In 2004, the Mars Express space probe and three independent groups (on earth) trained their attention and equipment on Mars. What they found was shocking. There was methane gas in Mars’s atmosphere. On Earth, bacteria and other forms of life create most of our methane. A much smaller amount of our methane comes from frozen underground deposits as they thaw. Scientists wondered: Are there living microbes producing this gas on Mars? And so they continued their investigation.
One year later, a scientist from the European Space Agency (ESA) found oxidized methane around Mars’s atmosphere in the form of formaldehyde. It would take 2.5 million tons of methane over the course of a year to do this. Curiosity and excitement led to further research and pricey missions. It was time to send in the Mars rover, which requires us to fast forward to 2012, when the data-collecting robot landed safely on the red planet.
Since that time, the Curiosity rover has been sending pictures and data on the soil, the atmosphere, and elements found on Mars. In 2019, the little lab on wheels discovered a vast amount of methane measuring 21 parts per billion units by volume. But what, or who, is producing it? Well, the answer to that question is still a work in progress.
“With our current measurements, we have no way of telling if the methane source is biology or geology, or even ancient or modern,”
SAM Principal Investigator Paul Mahaffy of NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
NASA continues to exchange data from the Mars rover with the ESA’s space probe in orbit so each organization can compare and contrast findings to pinpoint a source.
Venus
Astrobiologists from the University of Texas have collected and compiled data from NASA’s Pioneer and Magellan space probes, and from Russia’s Venera Venus-lander. Their goal was to explain some anomalies in Venus’s atmosphere. What anomalies, you ask? There are a few things that have scientists scratching their heads.
First, there should be large quantities of carbon monoxide on Venus. This is because of all the solar radiation and lightning that occurs up there, but something is removing it. Second, hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide, two compounds that should react with each other, are coexisting. Third (and most exciting), scientists have detected carbonyl sulphide. On earth, microbes are the only things responsible for producing it and it is a 100% organic process.
Does the answer to life on other planets lie 50 kilometers above the surface of Venus? Scientists, it’s time to get your heads into the the clouds.
Jupiter’s Moon – Europa
The Galileo space probe detected sulphur and volcanically-warmed ocean just under the Europa’s crust. The reason this is exciting is that this looks just like the waste-products of bacteria in Earth’s Antarctica. So if bacteria grows and thrives in Earth’s icy water, can bacteria do the same thing on Europa? All signs point to yes. After all, where this is waste-product, there is life.
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Great article!!
Great article! With the billions of planets in the Universe, I think it’s likely there is life out there!