Whenever I hear the word alien I think of a green slimy human-esk figure with large black eyes and three fingers. I am probably wrong for envisioning them as Hollywood portrays them to society, but however they look I completely believe that life does exists beyond earth. My main reason for this belief is that the universe is just to big for us to be the only lucky ones. Before It’s News helps break down the numbers; modern telescopes are able to identify approximately 1 billion galaxies in our universe with each galaxy holding roughly 1 billion stars, therefore the total number of stars in the universe is 10 sextillion with an estimated 10 million billion planets. Now if we assume that life sustainable planets are rare in our universe, lets say one in a million, it is safe to say that there are ten billion planets in the universe capable of sustaining life. These estimates come from data that we are physically able to see, and do not account for the unknown amount of space that we are not able to see, meaning that these numbers could be much larger.
Life as we know it would not exist without the presence of water, so therefore we assume that in order for life to survive water must be present on that planet. Well it turns out that recent breakthroughs in technology have lead scientists to believe that water may flow underneath the surface of mars along with several moons of various planets in our solar system. This is encouraging news considering the fact that planets right in our own backyard are showing signs of the compound we know to be essential for life, only increasing the probability that life exists elsewhere.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary an alien is defined as “something not familiar or like other things you have known: different from what you are used to”, what I take from this definition is that aliens are equal to the unknown; so why would something unknown and foreign to us require the same means for survival. With such a large and undiscovered universe I would not be surprised if these extraterrestrials did not require water for survival, and perhaps needed something else or nothing at all to maintain life. If this theory were true it would be a game changer, causing us to rethink life as we know it, along with increasing the odds substantially that aliens do exist.
Lastly, another reason why I feel so strongly about the existence of extraterrestrial life is the number of sightings and abductions that are reported on a yearly basis. I understand that not all of these stories are incredibly creditable however with hundreds of detailed reports each year the data is just too consistent and similar to be completely false. The National UFO Reporting Center does a good job at reporting and explaining these sightings in detail, I encourage you to take a look at a few of the reports and make a decision for yourself on whether or not you believe that they are creditable or not. Just remember that out of the hundreds of accounts that are reported each year it only takes one of them to be true.
Overall I just see our universe as to large and undiscovered of a place for us to be the only ones living in it, and think it is foolish to rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial life however it may exist.
