Mankind will make contact with intelligent alien life within two decades, leading astronomers claim.

The recent discovery of Earth-like planets outside our solar system and the launch of a major Nasa mission in 2009 has brought extra-terrestrial contact a dramatic step closer.

In a BBC two Horizon documentary broadcast tomorrow night, the American astrophysicist Dr Frank Drake said: "Everything has caused us to become more optimistic."

The 76-year-old - who founded the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project (SETI) in 1961 - added: "We really believe that in the next 20 years or so, we are going to learn a great deal more about life beyond Earth and very likely we will have detected that life and perhaps even intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy."

Nearly half a century ago, Dr Drake devised an equation to estimate the number of alien civilisations in the galaxy.

It takes into account seven factors including the rate at which stars are born in the Milky Way, roughly how many have planets, whether they might be habitable and a guess as to how long an intelligent species exists.

Although everyone's answer to the equation differs, Dr Drake said the average estimate was that 10,000 technologically advanced life-forms exist in the galaxy.

The theory was dismissed by many experts until April last year when a Swiss team discovered the first two planets, called Gliese 581 c and d, outside the Solar System that could support life.

Dr Drake said: "It shows the potential that life-bearing planets exist."

SETI senior astronomer Dr Seth Shostak, based in California, told Horizon: "There are 200 billion stars just in our galaxy and at least half of them probably have planets (orbiting them), so that's 100 billion planetary systems with, let's say, five planets in each system.

"That's 500 billion planets out there, and bear in mind there are 100 billion other galaxies.

"To think this (the Earth) is the only place where anything interesting is happening, you have got to be really audacious to take that point of view."

The search for life on other planets will take a huge step forward next year when Nasa launches its Kepler space telescope, which will constantly scan the same 100,000 stars over its entire four-year mission to discover Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones around suns.

Once Kepler identifies the planets most likely to sustain life, the team at SETI will focus its deep-space listening equipment on those solar systems, instead of randomly scanning the outer reaches of space as at present.


Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk





Can somebody record this show ? Would be very nice since i cannot get it overhere where i live

If they are out there, and we detect them with the Kepler space telescope, or any other, the SETI researchers, who felt they had found a signal from light-years away, would let the protocols temporarily remain on the shelf. Instead, they would call up astronomers at another telescope and ask them to stop whatever theyre doing and verify the signal. Independent verification eliminates the possibility that the suspected detection is an unknown hardware bug, or even an elaborate student prank, that would have to be very elaborate!

The process would take a few days, and the number of people involved would be roughly double that of the original discovery team. In fact, several observatories spaced around the globe would be asked to help with the confirmation, since the star system under scrutiny could be lost to view for 12 hours or more.

The research horde actively looking for the signal would number in atleast the dozens. The chance that their efforts could somehow be kept under wraps is nil. As Poor Richards Almanac so succinctly put it, "Three people may keep a secret, if two of them are dead." These folks arent dead.

Indeed, by this stage, theres every reason to expect that the news would be out. The less reputable media would be screaming the story in a font big enough to read from the next county. The SETI scientists would downplay this premature buzz, as they methodically proceed with verification. After perhaps a week of effort if the signal persisted they would order the doughnuts and hold a press conference to announce the discovery of the millennium.

As with so many recent science discoveries, the probable nature, consequences and implication of the story would already have been spread far and wide. Other scientists people not directly connected with the SETI search would have been cajoled by the media into an orgy of speculation and debate.

The world will know even before the initial detection has been fully verified.



I hope it happens in my lifetime.

i really hope were not alone in the universe, just think about it, our planet the only one in billions with life.... wouldnt like that at all :[ if we do come into contact with intelligent e.ts, our goverments would probabaly lock it away...even though i hope thats not the case

lol! Was just thinking bout something similar this the other day...

"There are 200 billion stars just in our galaxy and at least half of them probably have planets (orbiting them), so that's 100 billion planetary systems with, let's say, five planets in each system.That's 500 billion planets out there, and bear in mind there are 100 billion other galaxies. To think this (the Earth) is the only place where anything interesting is happening, you have got to be really audacious to take that point of view."

I think even if NASA launchers their new toys into space as to later confirm any definite signs of life & or planets similar to earth in the next 20 yrs, my guess it would probably take double that time if not more to disclose it(?) Ya know, cos we're not ready for it... P/S guess; yes theres other life out there, probably some more intelligent & some not so intelligent than us...tis one BIG muther universe out there.

Earth may have a twin orbiting one of our nearest stellar neighbors, a new study suggests.


Nearest Star System Might Harbor Earth Twin.



http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0803...ther-earth.html

Is this going to be broadcast in the UK?

I can't find it in my telly guide....??




They are talking about Alpha Centauri in this link.......but I wonder if the SIRIUS star system
is a good candidate......as star systems go......it's not THAT far away.

I know, I know......it's a VERY long way....from our perspective....but so is anywhere outside
the solar system....

SIRIUS is a binary system that has one star twice as large as our own. One star turned into a red giant and is now a white dwarf.So it would be interesting to find out what prospect of an earth like planet with possibility of supporting life there would be.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b0094cym.shtml

Anybody from the uk that can play the movie and post it to youtube?

Greetz Dex

Thanks for that link....




Sorry...I don't know how to do that.

In the next two decades!!?? We need to get out $#!% together!

Read the book "Contact" by Carl Sagon, NOT THE MOVIE!

Of course we are not alone. The only people that believe that want to see humans as the most dominant life form in the universe. Since we are unfortunately the dominant species on this planet some people like to think we are the most intelligent in the universe.

has anyone downloaded this programme, so others can watch/download it,

Parhaps there are aliens, but 10,000 technologically advanced life-forms in our galaxy? I dont think so...

I will answer both the "Are we alone" question as well as the "Has other life ever visited earth" question. There is most definately intelligent life out there.

If you do the math then that figure is Ultra-Conservative, however, they may (just) all be at the same level of technology as we are, then we would never know......

Can you say the same thing about elephant trunks with the same level of certainty? Why is one trait any more likely to appear than any other? What's so special about intelligence? Considering that the elements that create life are probably abundant in the universe, it's logical to assume that basic life has appeared elsewhere. There could be a trillion bodies in the universe with at least basic life on them, and we still could be the only one with intelligence.

Let's consider the following scenario, if only for the purposes of discussion:

Life is unique to the Earth, or at least to the Solar System.

But every other solar system, and maybe every planet comprising those systems, contains something just as unique and just as wonderful as Life.

the key word "Intelligence" thats our own word for what we call our levels of understanding. what if they.them,what ever is out there just think with pure positive thought? well I for one hope for any contact of any kind,its a start. Just DONTEATUS

Well, *alone* is a relative term. While I'm very much convinced that there's other life somewhere in the vastness of the universe, I'm still up in the air regarding intelligent life, and whether or not it's possible to traverse the distances involved for visitation. So, in a way we may be *alone* in the sense that we're simply too far away from any other intelligent life as to really matter much.

I dont think we're alone...even hiyroglyphics or however u spell it, even suggest the existence of aliens. They're even in the Bible...and I personally believe in the Bible lol

maybe the great vastness of space is waiting for us to evolve above the level we seem stuck in at this moment in our time space point of prespective? I for one think we can do it. " All we need is Love"

The probability of existence of bacterial life forms on other planets overwhelms the probability of their zero existence, given that we have billions of various stars and galaxies in this Universe. We were shocked when we found microbial lifeforms in extreme temperatures, acidities and other various harsh environments that we previously thought no life could be possibly harboured. No one will deny the possibility of extraterrestrial microbial life forms. There is a report that scientists succeeded in creating a life simply through simulating thunderstorms with basic elements that are abundantly found on earth. Given this evidence, it comes to that life on other planets is not impossible. I say that simple bacterial life forms or viral particles are prevalent in our universe, though rarity could be of intelligent life forms.

If the theory of evolution is right, the chance of those bacterial organisms going through evolution to become more complex life form will be not impossible at the least. Given sustainable environment and the cause, they will evolve into more complex organism. Some evolving into different directions such as fishlike, insectlike, protistlike, plantlike or other possibilities on other planets. What's the chance of having a earth-like planet in countless star systems? If you say none, you're not being fair with yourself. Earth is like a speck of dust. The possibility is endless.

There is a basic pattern of life on earth that provides us insight, hinting us that organisms have evolved from the simple to the complex. The more complex it became, the bigger it became. The bigger it became so did other species and the competition for food and survival increased which would have induced the growth of ability to think as well - be that as low as forming a social group or forming a social group with complex individual rolls. But that isn't enough to become intelligent as of our standard. How did we become intelligent as of now?

The probable limitation of evolution of intelligence was the nonexistence of free limbs that could allow the organism to grab objects. So even if an animal species did become evolved to think more complex, there was no way one could become intelligent enough to think creatively because the ability to comfortablly manipulate objects around them was not developed. So the biggest advantage came to monkeys, who have evolved to free their limbs in order live all their life on trees, jumping from one branch to another. That process involved grappling. However, that wasn't enough because most of their life was limited on the safer tree environment and the need for objects was rare event let alone inaccessible from trees (aside chopping off branches).

One day, due to some environmental factor, a local group of monkeys adventured down from trees in order to search for food. That way, like current baboons, probably became semi-treedwellers. Those that came down trees and never went back went through much harsher life, making use of nature for survival, only intelligent groups survived. Over millions of years, the language and tools were acquired through evolution but weren kind of short of something. It was the revolution of agriculture, herding and the transmission of such knowledge throughout the continents that gave us the real basis of civilization that we have builtup today.

Now we think we have evolved to our current state just in some million years from the monkey-state, to the present. If that relatively short amount of time and the existence of climate variability on a planet is the requirement for an animal species to become as intelligent as we are, the possibility of bacterial life forms evolving to become intelligent species is nonzero. ETs may not necessarily have evolved from monkeys, but their structure will be fundamentaly the same as us; complete bipedalism, and the capability of communication between the species might be the necessary spark, the cause of their very existence.

We are like the blip on the radar screen in comparison. In fact, given the rate at which we progressed from the last 100 years with the right sparks, imagine how many intelligent species have existed, or in the state becoming one in the Universe from the last billions of years to the present. We haven't gathered enough data to say deterministically that we are alone in the universe. We're like infant. We are struggling to find out if Mars harbours life. We don't know much about our ocean or the details of history of Earth, only through deduction from occasional remains can we attempt surmise or explain our past. We aren't even sure how we came to be.

From the light of this fact, we haven't the right to scoff or laugh at other people's belief that aliens might have visited our planet some thousands of years ago or there sprung up several earth-based civilizations at some point during the billions of years of Earth's history that have mysteriosly disappeared because no one can prove it wrong (from which we obtain and interpret from obscure remains of historical records). The NASA recently found what they dubbed Adam's bridge that might connected the Indian subcontinent and the island of Sri Lanka long ago. We don't know who built the Egyptian pyramids why and how, and why there exists pyramids in Central America. We think locals built them beause they were residents at the time, but do we have proof.

I'm sorry for the babbling but anyways, I think ETs exist.

for anyone interested, Channel 4 have a website similar to the BBC i player, called four on Demand, available on 4-on-demand is series called extreme universe, its in 3 episodes, which you can stream or download,

and there is also another series called stephen Hawkings master of the Universe. two episodes have been shown so far, and are free to stream or download,

http://www.channel4.com/4od/index.html

you have to install a small programe to run the thing,

That 100 Billion other galaxies out there is a give or take estimate. How did they come to that figure in the first place?
Our Milky Way might only be a junior by comparison to most others(?)

Theres no actual point here, i was just curious & too lazy to look it up. lol!

Yeah...our government just takes em away and hides it. They dont care about the aliens! THEY ARE LIVING BEINGS! THEY CAN FEEL PAIN! THEY FEEL! yet our government probably tortures them!

Thing is, even if the are out there, they have a good reason to hide. Here we are, a planet full of greedy, selfish humansm who only care about money, practically committing genocide, possibly locking away any found alien, and starting WARS! TERRORISM! Murder! CRIME! bombs! I believe that if humans were to act nice, and stop all this foolish was, and murder and genocide etc. then aliens would be more inclined to come to earth! Lets face it...Earth is practically hell! There may be some good times but, as far as behavior and all that...we are a violent and greedy species.

I totally agree. But I fear most Aliens would be just as bad as us.