We are Not Alone in the Universe : Extraterrestrial life exists and could be found within 20 years, with adequate funding, astronomers say Congress

Two eminent alien astronomers in the world ( such as researching aliens , not that they are aliens themselves) have told the U.S. Congress that there is alien life out there in the universe - and with adequate funding , we could find that the alien life within 20 years. The statement was presented to the House Committee on Science , Space and Technology, which is currently examining our efforts to search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), and whether you need to take more public funding.

Now , we could say that the two astronomers - who have both "SETI" in their job titles - have a slightly vested interest in persuading Congress that there is life out there . But to be fair , all you really did was to tell Congress about the large size of the universe , and that "it would be strange if we are alone ," said Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute in California . Astronomers report nearly two thousand planets have already been identified by the Kepler telescope of NASA, and how we can estimate that 70 % of all stars are accompanied by planets - which means that there is about a trillion planets in our galaxy alone. 

With so many planets , there is a " good " chance that alien life exists somewhere in the universe - but, as Shostak and Dan Wethimer, director of SETI research at the University of California at Berkeley told the Congress , we will not find it if we do not have the funding. So far , the efforts of humanity to look deep space for signs of life have been lackluster to say the least. In recent years , there SETI @ Home, and that 's about it . Because the universe is huge, and because our radio telescopes to listen to only a small fraction of the sky for signs of extraterrestrial life , we just have not seen in many places. With a few million dollars in funding - for larger telescopes and more computer processing power - could be converted to many other interstellar rocks . With sufficient funding , Shostak and Wethimer that we could find extraterrestrial life just 20 years from now . ( As a fun place , so Shostak and Wethimer also said that Congress did not think the Earth has ever visited by aliens . " Do not think this will be something that all governments have managed to keep a secret ," Shostak said . )

The Square Kilometre Array radio telescope (rendering artist ). To find extraterrestrial life , we would need a wide variety of radio telescopes - as Square Kilometer Array

Personally, I'm a little more dubious . Shostak and Wethimer obviously look towards optimism, when billions of dollars for research is delicious on the line. Yes , you could cover the Earth in huge parabolic antennas and listen really closely for signs of life . [ Read : IBM is to build exascale supercomputer largest in the world , millions telescope antennas . ] More realistically , however , the increase in funding will allow us to hear faint signals coming from a small percentage of the night sky . In any case , listening for alien radio signals is a hell of a long shot . The chances of an alien civilization advanced enough to produce strong signals, and sending them in our direction - remember , the universe is almost infinitely large - is very small. Furthermore , and perhaps most importantly, our two cultures , should overlap . Human civilization is tens of thousands of years , but have only been able to transmit radio signals and count for less than 100 of them. The universe has been around for almost 14 billion years - what if there was intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy one million years , or one hundred million years ago, or 10 billion years ago, but radio signals to wash over us long before we could hear them ? [ Read : Alien spots : By 2020 , we will finally have the ability to detect life- harboring alien planets . ]

Concept of an artist for a Dyson Sphere

A truly advanced alien civilization might have built a Dyson sphere star - covering

And how long do you think it is about ? Another 100 years? Probably . Another 1,000 years ? If we're lucky . The large , completely amazing scale of the universe , humans are the tiniest of blips - and it stands to reason that any other intelligent civilization would be exactly the same. The big exception , of course , is whether there is an alien civlization out there that has survived for millions of years and has already completed multiple systems or galaxies stars . In this case , there is a very good chance that our cultures (and therefore efforts of SETI), will overlap .

Now , if we really want to find a highly advanced empire has colonized many galaxies are another matter entirely. I do not think that humanity will face very well with suddenly being number two in the food chain ...

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