It’s life, but not as we know it... across our galaxy
WE are not alone and may be living alongside 36 intelligent alien races in our galaxy, a university study claimed.
British scientists have calculated that there could be dozens of other extraterrestrial lifeforms within the Milky Way.
But they said it is likely the average distance to such civilisations would be 17,000 light-years away.
Their findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal, aim to shed fresh light on whether there is life within our universe.
The University of Nottingham team assumed that intelligent life develops on other planets in a similar way as it does on Earth.
Then researchers obtained an estimate for the number of intelligent communicating civilisations within our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
They calculated that there could be more than 30 active communicating intelligent civilisations.
Astrophysist Professor Christopher Conselice said: “There should be at least a few dozen active civilisations in our galaxy under the assumption that it takes five billion years for intelligent life to form on other planets, as on Earth.”
The research shows that the number of civilisations depends strongly on how long they are actively sending out signals of their existence into space, such as radio transmissions from satellites or TV.
Prof Conselice said that if other technological civilisations last as long as ours then there will be about 36 intelligent technical civilisations.
But he said the average distance to these civilisations would be 17,000 light-years away, making detection and communication “very difficult” with our present technology.
It is also possible that we are the only civilisation within our galaxy, unless the survival times of civilisations like our own are long, according to the researchers.
Prof Conselice added: “Our new research suggests that searches for extraterrestrial intelligent civilisations not only reveals the existence of how life forms, but also gives us clues for how long our own civilisation will last.”