Stories of life beyond the planet are always fascinating.
Conspiracy theories and alien sightings never fail to spark an interest in humans.
Simply the idea that we are not alone in the vast universe is always a topic worth tackling. This is why shows such as Ancient Aliens is a hit.
It's been decades since scientists began to study the existence of extraterrestrial life. Most remain skeptical while some chose to settle in the fine line between believing and ignoring.
Currently, a publication can erase the doubts. Three scientists claimed that at least one advanced alien civilization exists.
According to scientists Luis A. Anchordoqui, Susanna Weber, and Jorge F. Soriano, an advanced extraterrestrial civilization with the capability of communicating with humans in the Milky Way galaxy is possible.
The article which was published in University of Cornell's website, states that they were able to make this conclusion with the use of the Drake Formula. Their calculations estimated that at least ONE alien civilization likely possess technology that can intercept radio emissions.
"Moreover, scientists compare these planets where there are some potential civilizations with the rate of birth of heavenly bodies within the settled zone around their star."
In 1961, Frank Drake, founder of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) wrote down an equation to determine the chance of contactable civilizations. This birthed the Drake Equation or Green Bank Equation. Below is an image portraying details of the formula.
Photo Credits: mightymega
Their note will be verified with the anticipated launch of TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and JWST (James Webb Telescope).
The trio researchers note in their paper:
"A new arsenal of data will certainly provide an ideal testing ground to improve our understanding about: (i) the occurrence of exoplanets in the habitable zone, (ii) the early star formation rate models, and (iii) the GRB phenomenology. The past few years have witnessed the discovery of more and more rocky planets that are larger and heftier than Earth."
"Finding the Earth-twins is a higher order challenge because these smaller planets produce fainter signals and hence only a few have been discovered. Technology to detect and image Earth-like planets has been developed for use of the next generation space telescopes. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is NASA's next step in the search for planets outside of our solar system, including those that could support life."
"The NASA roadmap will subsequently continue with the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and perhaps the proposed Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope-Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) early in the next decade. The ability to detect alien life may still be years or more away but the quest is underway."
On the other hand, scientists indicate that harmful gamma-ray bursts could put the existence of aliens at risk.
“Ten thousand years from now, no one will remember anything about our era except it was when we discovered this single profound fact: We live in a cosmos of planets."
