Arecibo Radio Telescope
Photo Source: NASA

Scientists in many different places are trying to find out if there is life outside of our own little world, which is placed in an arm of a spiral galaxy. The Earth isn't even near the main part of the galaxy it is in. This increases the distance to the main part of our galaxy by a great amount. If we assume that life exists in our galaxy and most of it is in the main part of the galaxy, then we are almost as far away from that life as you can get and still be in the same galaxy. Of course there could be life on other planets in the spiral arms, but it is beginning to look like this is all a numbers game and the best chance for life is in the most densely populated part since there are more stars and maybe planets there. Some say that since we are alive even though we are in the spiral arm then other planets with life could exist in the arms. Sure they could, we are just talking about where we have the best chance of finding life.

Speaking of searching for life, SETI is one of the organizations that has been doing it by searching for intelligent radio transmissions for years. SETI stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. They have received millions of sound waves over the year through their powerful radio telescopes. When they get the data it has to be analyzed and that takes awhile. They state that they have never received a signal from an intelligent source that wasn't from this world. Are they right? Is this even the entire story? Some don't think so. One signal, SHGb02+14a, was discovered in 2004. One scientist said that this signal was most uncommon. The signal's frequency was 1420 megahertz. What is so unusual about that? It is the same frequency that hydrogen absorbs and emits energy. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe and some scientists feel that if a communication is intercepted from aliens it will be on this frequency since that is where an intelligent race might look for one. The signal is coming from between the constellations of Pisces and Aries, and scientists state that there is no star or planetary system within 1,000 light years there. The signal is very weak. The location has scientists puzzled. This signal was said to have been detected three different times.

We are learning more and more about our universe. One of the things we learned, is that objects can be floating on their own in space. Would it be possible for life to survive on a planet that is drifting through the cold, dark regions of interstellar space? Perhaps life developed in oceans, under the ice and it is fed by internal heat such as heat vents that give warmth form the molten core of the planet. We might never know that such a planet was there at that distance. Another interesting thought is that life might develop in space itself. This is rather far fetched, but maybe this life is some sort of energy with intelligence? Who can answer these questions?

 

There is a certain criteria that must be met before a signal is even considered to be from an alien source. You must be able to move the telescope away from the signal and then reacquire it again. This has prevented some interesting candidates from having a chance. While I was looking at a message board I found a comment by someone that stated that in August of this year, a scientist said that SETI had received intelligent signals from outer space. The writer claimed that SETI has received intelligent signals already and that this scientist urged them to tell everyone. I am not mentioning the scientist's name because this is only hearsay and there is a good chance that it may not be true, I just thought it was interesting to know. Here is a question for you. If the government is keeping ufo secrets, would they allow SETI to release info on Extraterrestrial aliens? I think that the answer is probably not. If they aren't keeping secrets, they might.

There was a signal that was received by SETI that shocked them at the time, it was called the WOW signal because one of the SETI scientists was so impressed with it at the time, that he wrote WOW! in the margin of a printout containing the signal. Here is another question for you out there. I have read that the BBC had announced that in February of 1996 that SETI had received a signal from a planet just recently discovered by the Hubble Telescope and they believed that it was artificial. The story disappeared. Why? What happened when that strange signal from the area of the star Virginis 70 was detected? When a planet was detected orbiting that sun, which is a lot like ours, was the signal picked up from the planet like many people say?

About Facts is not a conspiracy site, although we have talked about them from time to time. There are quite a few people out there that think that SETI is being hobbled by the government. First their funding was cut off and when they figured out how to continue operating, could their people have been sworn to secrecy on any alien signal discoveries? I personally hope that this isn't the case. When it comes to the search for extraterrestrial life, one can't help but feel that we will never be allowed to know the truth. Even if no other life has been found to date, and we can't be sure of even that, we may not be allowed to know if it ever is. It is all very disheartening. It seems that we are being thought of as children by some great power up there telling us in a way, that they know what is good for us and it wouldn't be good to know that there is other life in the universe. These suspicions may be entirely wrong, but knowing how things go, there is also a good chance that they are right.