Astronomers will find alien life 'within a decade' as it's likely hiding where we're already looking, scientist reveals | The Sun

SCIENTISTS could find alien life within a decade and it's likely somewhere we have already been looking, according to an astrobiology expert.

Jonathon Stone, also known as Doc Roc, told The U.S. Sun about his prediction but fears humans won't visit planets with extraterrestrials within his lifetime.

Stone works as an Associate Professor at McMaster University in Canada.

He told us: "I predicted to a graduate class in astrobiology that I teach that a claim to have discovered evidence consistent with 'life' elsewhere would appear in a scientific journal within a decade."

Stone says he made this prediction a few years ago, so time remains to test whether it is correct.

The expert believes current research into exoplanets could be the key to finding alien life.

Exoplanets are just planets that exist outside our solar system – and over 5,000 of them have been discovered so far.

Stone continued: "The claim probably will be offered by astronomers indirectly examining atmospheres around planets in solar systems other than our own.

"In that sense, yes, I predict that we will."

There are many teams of astronomers already on the lookout for exoplanets that might support life, including Nasa researchers.

Most read in News Tech

SHE’S EXPENSIVE

Noel Gallagher divorces wife after bitter battle – & she gets a huge payout

FROM IRAN WITH HATE

Damning proof Iran gave weapons to Hamas who carried out Israel’s 9/11

EUROVISION SNOG CONTEST

Hannah Waddingham’s secret romance with Brit singing star revealed

STANDING GUARD

Cenotaph under 24/7 guard as 500,000 vow to protest on Remembrance Day

Nasa even has its own Exoplanet Exploration Program.

The space agency's website says its goal is to "discover planets around other stars, to characterize their properties and to identify planets that could harbor life."

Special telescopes can look at a planet's atmosphere and determine whether there are any gases being produced that indicate life.

Stone isn't as convinced that humans will meet aliens anytime soon.

He told us: "Visiting another planet and actually observing aliens, or their visiting us, remains as a possibility but probably cannot be entertained, as such, at least in my lifetime."

The astrobiologist is also convinced that alien life has not yet reached our planet.

He said: "The overwhelming majority of data suggests that every living entity that we so far have discovered on Earth ultimately descended from a common ancestor."

Source: Read Full Article