Despite the skeptical views of the public majority, alien life forms - advanced or at least simple - most likely exist somewhere in the vast expanses of the universe. Moreover, many scientists agree that it is pointless to deny it. Of course, this does not mean at all that we are talking necessarily about some stereotypical gray aliens with big heads and eyes, kidnapping people. But just in terms of numbers and statistics, somewhere in the Universe right now some cosmic microbe or "cosmic mosquito" is doing its usual daily routine. So let's look at 10 reasons why we can at least believe that extraterrestrial life does exist somewhere out there.
The law of large numbers
Even if the actual number of discovered planets is constantly changing, and in some cases even decreasing due to the lowering of the status of some celestial bodies and their becoming a rank lower, for example, in the category of dwarf planets, in a general sense, scientists agree that there are billions of worlds in space. solar systems and galaxies.
If we consider the Universe as a kind of infinite space, then from the point of view of mathematics, it is necessary to take into account the likelihood that in this infinite space there are the same countless number of planets. In addition, it also suggests that it will be very, very difficult to find something really worthwhile in this countless variety. The search scale is too huge.
If we assume that only 1 percent of these planets can be a habitat for life, then you get just an astronomical number of potentially inhabited worlds. Among this diversity, there may be a certain proportion of planets very similar to the Earth with its diversity of inhabited species. In this case, we can say that there are even more aliens in space than we can imagine. But again, until science provides solid evidence, all such reasoning in society will always be considered far-fetched and premature.
Promotional video:
Water is everywhere
If water is the key to life, then we have good news, because water is almost everywhere in the universe. Again according to scientists. However, it is most often found in solid form, that is, in the form of ice. But again, not necessarily everywhere. In our solar system alone, there are several satellites of the planets where there is water. And with a high degree of probability it exists there in liquid form.
Scientists still argue about the same Mars and the presence of water on it in one form or another, but as for other celestial bodies, like the same satellites of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, they just show all the signs of the presence of liquid water. Perhaps the most obvious of these is Saturn's moon Enceladus, which spews huge jets of water vapor and ice particles into outer space from cracks in its icy surface. Among other things, this may indicate that geological activity is still taking place on the satellite, which in turn can contribute to the emergence and development of life.
Variety of species
Now science is mainly aimed at finding forms of life that would be similar to us, or at least those forms of life that required the conditions and elements that were present on Earth to appear and develop. However, for some reason we ignore the option according to which life forms on other planets could appear and exist in completely different conditions and environments. So many others that these life forms would really seem unreal and alien to us.
There can be a great variety of options, again. Why not assume that somewhere in the universe, life exists in liquid or gaseous form? Or maybe life on other planets has a completely different genetic code and is based on completely different chemical elements and is able to exist in completely unbearable conditions from a human point of view.
Such assumptions are partially supported by the constantly increasing number of discoveries of the so-called extremophiles, that is, organisms that can not only survive, but also quite comfortably exist in very harsh conditions on Earth. They are also found in permafrost and even inside volcanoes. So why not assume that such organisms can exist in the same frozen environment of Mars or in the same fiery hell of Venus?
Could it be that we did not find aliens, not because they do not exist, but simply because we do not know what they will be? It is possible that extraterrestrial life exists in such unexpected forms for us that we cannot even understand if it is life at all.
The rapid development of life on Earth
Again, speaking in relative terms, life on Earth and in particular humans appeared on the planet just yesterday. According to some researchers, such an abrupt emergence and evolution of living forms may indicate that this is not just a very strange coincidence. On the contrary, this may indicate that such a thing can happen somewhere else in the Universe. In other words, perhaps we are not special at all, and our appearance is a normal reaction to planetary evolution.
Some believe that life existed on Mars long ago. This was when the planet still had a fairly dense atmosphere and had liquid water on its surface, like on Earth. Similar opinions are expressed towards Venus. Say, it also once looked like the Earth, but some large-scale catastrophic events gave rise to a powerful "greenhouse effect", which significantly increased the temperature on its surface and eventually turned it into a lifeless space body.
Supernova rejuvenates the universe
Scientists say: if you decompose the human body into atoms, it turns out that its molecules are 97 percent composed of the same elements as galaxies in the Universe. In other words, we are all children of stars, no matter how loud it sounds.
Our Universe is full of countless cycles of death and birth of new stars, flowing through a series of stellar explosions, called supernovae. Scientists believe that the clouds of gas and dust used to form new stars contain organic molecules called the building blocks of life. These molecules are transported from one corner of the universe to another by comets and asteroids, until they ultimately fall onto planets and satellites that form around stars.
Despite the fact that scientists generally agree with the theory that life on Earth was due to comets that contained these building blocks of life, they do not know where and, most importantly, when this process first appeared. The correct answers to these questions may be found in the data collected with the Atacama Large Millimeter-Wave Antenna Array (ALMA), the world's most powerful radio telescope network. The fact is that ALMA has discovered the chemical signatures of life in the interstellar gas surrounding young stars in the constellation Ophiuchus, which is about 400 light years from Earth.
“This family of organic molecules is involved in the synthesis of peptides and amino acids, which in turn are the biological basis of the life that surrounds us,” explained Audrey Kootens of University College London.
Scientists believe the ALMA find supports our speculations about how life originated within our solar system. If this is true, then the appearance of other new stars may have already led to the emergence of other life forms somewhere in the universe.
We are too invisible against the background of space
Skeptics of the theory of the existence of life elsewhere in the universe often argue that the Earth is unique in its kind. Supposedly it is the only planet in the Universe where there is life. Some agree with the uniqueness of the Earth, but do not always agree with the reason for this uniqueness. If you look at our solar system as a whole and do not take into account the Earth, then it actually seems completely lifeless. Or at least one devoid of intelligent and technologically advanced civilization.
So why not assume that among all the variety of already discovered and even greater variety of worlds not yet found by us, located in the habitable zones of their stars, there may be at least one planet where some intelligent and even very technologically advanced civilization lives, but at the same time, for her, our solar system may seem completely uninhabited? Maybe this is where our uniqueness lies? Maybe we're just too invisible against the background of everything else?
But what if right now some extraterrestrial intelligence is watching our system, sees in it some kind of blue planet, but it does not attract him in any way, since by his standards it is included in the group of lifeless, according to his standards? In addition, why should we rule out the possibility that this intelligence is now observing our planet, but, like us to a greater extent in relation to other exoplanets, hesitantly makes an assumption about whether there is anything living on this blue ball? At the same time, he cannot answer this question exactly, like us, because he lacks evidence, knowledge or simply the required level of technology.
Asteroids, meteorites and comets
Many scientists at different times (as, indeed, now) were convinced that extraterrestrial life could reach the Earth (and any planet in the Universe in general) riding on some asteroid, meteorite or comet. This hypothesis received significant support at the end of the 20th century, when, after analyzing the space bodies that fell on our planet, scientists made an amazing discovery.
Perhaps the most noteworthy case occurred in 1984 in Antarctica, when scientists discovered a meteorite from Mars, later dubbed ALH84001. After his research, experts made a loud conclusion - life once existed on the Red Planet. In 1996, during the analysis of the object, fossils of once living microbial forms were found in its internal structure. At the time, this was the most compelling evidence that at least the simplest life forms could once inhabit the surface of Mars. Can we conclude from this that life still exists on our planetary neighbor? And couldn't she somehow evolve during this time? Several Mars rovers and orbital probes are looking for answers to these questions.
If you count how many different comets and asteroids fell on our planet … In general, who knows how many microbes eventually climbed out of them and assimilated within the ecosystem of our planet. The most famous case of a meteorite falling to Earth is rightfully considered the event that occurred in 1908 in the vastness of Siberia and later called the fall of the Tunguska meteorite. For some reason, it seems that if the researchers of that time had the opportunity to study the place of the fall with the help of modern modern scientific instruments, then people would expect many interesting and very important discoveries.
Life is not limited to planets
Of course, not only planets are considered by modern science as a potential habitat for various life forms. Take, for example, our solar system. Some scientists are so convinced that some of the planet's satellites can be populated by at least microscopic organisms that they almost personally want to fly there and prove it to everyone.
As noted more than once in previous articles, some of the satellites of our gas giants have all the signs of the presence of geological activity, the atmosphere, and even the presence of water in liquid form. Therefore, with the opportunity to explore in more detail the distant boundaries of outer space, we will probably be able to find satellites more suitable for life than their native exoplanets.
Hints in our past
Supporters of the theory of paleocontact believe that evidence of the existence of extraterrestrials is seen in some ancient monuments of terrestrial culture: rock paintings, sculptures, legends and epics of the past.
In addition to ancient scriptures, which either indirectly or almost directly, according to the proponents of the theory, hint at the visit of alien beings to our planet, a great emphasis is placed on some unexplained periods of human evolution. In particular, we are talking about an incomprehensible process that allowed some miserable amoeba to practically instantly (by cosmic standards, of course) develop such a complex, multifunctional and effective organ as the human brain.
If it turns out that extraterrestrial intelligence really somehow influenced the course of human history, then this will not just prove the existence of aliens. This will prove that we have much more in common with our space neighbors than many would think. This will lead to the fact that we will have to reevaluate everything we knew about our collective past.
Nikolay Khizhnyak