Lord Rees of Ludlow claims most astronomers would bet that life exists on some planets other than the Earth. He also believes that alien life is a possibility which cannot be dismissed.
A Likely Possibility
In a podcast with British broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, Royal Society former president Lord Martin Rees of Ludlow claims that he cannot rule out aliens and that scientists cannot say whether extraterrestrial life is 'likely or unlikely.' However, he believes that aliens do not exist as portrayed in movies and media.
Rees is an 83-year-old physicist who is best known for his studies into quasars that helped disprove the steady state theory of the cosmos. According to him, the most exciting topic in astronomy is the search for extraterrestrial life.
However, the Yorkshire-born astronomer does not believe that aliens have visited our planet in the way shown in movies. He says he gets letters from people who think they have been visited by extraterrestrial beings or have been taken away by them.
However, Rees does not believe such claims. He argues that it seems unlikely that the extraterrestrial beings made a huge effort to come on Earth and just meet one or two individuals, make some signs and go away again.
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Searching for Alien Life
In our solar system, some astronomers believe that humans may one day find traces of alien life on Mars. Yet, as Rees suggests, even the most optimistic astronomers only expect to discover traces of microbial life.
In its current mission, NASA's Perseverance rover collects samples from the Jezero Crater, a region assumed to be a dried-up lake bed. The car-sized rover identified sediment layers in the rock layers of the craters, an indication that the cold, arid, lifeless Red Planet was once wet, warm, and maybe habitable.
Meanwhile, Rees believes that the signs of extraterrestrial life can be found far further away in the atmosphere of distant exoplanets. Although their great distance and extreme dimness make them hard to study, these worlds are still considered the best contenders for the location of aliens.
With the most advanced telescopes available, it can be possible to analyze the light coming from exoplanets, according to Rees. By capturing the faint light that passes through the atmosphere of exoplanets, scientists can determine the chemical composition of the gases.
This technique allows astronomers to discover a number of planets that may already be home to alien life. If scientists find evidence of vegetation, oxygen, or things of the same kind, then it can be a clue in determining if a planet has a biosphere with light on it.
As a matter of fact, NASA discovered an Earth-like exoplanet, called Gliese 12b, which is located within the habitable zone of its host star. This makes the planet a likely world to maintain liquid water which is a key ingredient for the existence of life.
Meanwhile, NASA plans to analyze Gliese 12b to determine if it also contains an Earth-like atmosphere. Still, Rees noted that astronomers are only beginning to understand the chemical processes that give rise to life.
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