Are we alone in this universe?
This question alone has tormented our minds for years.
We have looked skyward and wondered our place in the cosmos.
The twinkling stars that don’t twinkle at all, have fascinated us, and we have always
marveled, that someone, somewhere far away, is looking back at us, and see our sun twinkle.
But in the search for life beyond earth, philosophy offers little help.
And as there is no way for us to contact them, we can only shoot in the dark, and hope that
they contact us.
But what if they already have?
What if we have found life outside earth, but in microbial form?
Have we overlooked alien signatures, and radio messages, that is still too complex for us
to comprehend and make sense of?
Today, we will look at the many hints that have emerged over the years pointing towards
the existence of life beyond earth.
These are the most hotly-debated discoveries that are indicative of alien life.
We will keep them short, and precise.
Welcome Lab three sixty, it’s time to explore.
1976, The Viking Mars landers detect chemical signatures indicative of life:
Tests performed on Martian soil samples by NASA’s Viking landers hinted at chemical
evidence of life.
One experiment mixed soil with radioactive-carbon-labelled nutrients and then tested for the production
of radioactive methane gas.
The test reported a positive result.
The production of radioactive methane suggested that something in the soil was metabolising
the nutrients and producing radioactive gas.
But other experiments on board failed to find any evidence of life, so NASA declared the
result a false positive.
Despite that, one of the original scientists – and others who have since re-analysed
the data – still stand by the finding.
They argue that the other experiments on board were ill-equipped to search for evidence of
the organic molecules – a key indicator of life.
1977, The unexplained extraterrestrial “Wow!”
signal is detected by an Ohio State University radio telescope
In August 1977 an Ohio State University radio telescope detected an unusual pulse of radiation
from somewhere near the constellation Sagittarius.
The 37-second-long signal was so startling that an astronomer monitoring the data scrawled
“Wow!” on the telescope’s printout.
The signal was within the band of radio frequencies where transmissions are internationally banned
on Earth.
Furthermore, natural sources of radiation from space usually cover a wider range of
frequencies.
As the nearest star in that direction is 220 million light years away, either a massive
astronomical event – or intelligent aliens with a very powerful transmitter would have
had to have created it.
The signal remains unexplained to this day.
2004, A mysterious radio signal is received by the SETI project on three occasions – from
the same region of space
In February 2003, astronomers with the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) project,
used a massive telescope in Puerto Rico to re-examine 200 sections of the sky which had
all previously yielded unexplained radio signals.
These signals had all disappeared, except for one which had become stronger.
The signal – widely thought to be the best candidate yet for an alien contact – comes
from a spot between the constellations Pisces and Aries, where there are no obvious stars
or planets.
Curiously, the signal is at one of the frequencies that hydrogen, the most common element, absorbs
and emits energy.
Some astronomers believe that this is a very likely frequency at which aliens wishing to
be noticed would transmit.
Nevertheless, there is also a good chance the signal is from a never-seen-before natural
phenomenon.
For example, an unexplained pulsed radio signal, thought to be artificial in 1967, turned out
to be the first ever sighting of a pulsar. 15810 Arawn
In April 2016, NASA’s New Horizon Spacecraft reached the Kuiper Belt.
After capturing its first target Pluto, the probe turned its sight towards a large object
on a strange trajectory.
We are talking about 15 8 10 Arawn, named after the Celtic god of Death, War and the
Otherworld.
Now, most of the objects in the Kuiper Belt are made of rock and ice.
But Arawn doesn’t move like any of catalogued object in the belt.
This has made scientists question if it is made of something completely different, something
much stronger, because its rotating so fast that centrifugal force should have torn it
apart.
How could something spin so fast and stay intact?
Scientists believe that the fast spin is creating artificial gravity, and gravity, would be
the most vital thing needed for long interstellar travel.
You cannot have astronauts floating around the spacecraft while traversing hundreds of
light years.
This probed the New Horizon to take a closer look at the object.
And here is when things turn strange.
As the probe tried to get a closer look, suddenly, all of its censors went dead, transmissions
cut-off.
It was as if someone was monitoring our presence; someone or something that did not want us
to know about them.
But just before losing contact, NASA observed that Arawn was spinning like a large spaceship
would.
Now, you can say that it might have been a technical glitch, but here is when things
get crazier.
Only when New Horizon moved away from Arawn, did it suddenly come back to life, as if nothing
had ever happened in the first place.
Now I would leave it to you to assume what it was, but if its an intelligent alien civilization,
it makes complete sense to stay far away from earth, and silently observe us, from the cold
and dark space in the Kuiper Belt.
ANCIENT EVIDENCE
Okay, agreed!
Not all UFO sightings are legit, and it is very easy for the experts to dismiss them.
But not all of them are weather balloons or drones.
Because you can dismiss evidence, but what about ancient evidences?
Yes, we are talking about ‘The Madonna with Saint Giovannino’, which is also known as
the UFO painting.
Created in the 15th century, it depicts the Virgin Mary and in the backdrop of the painting,
a man and his dog staring up at a hovering disk-like object, that is suspiciously familiar.
And this not the only piece of art that shows these eerie disk shapes.
Ancient cave paintings in India, and Sanskrit scrolls depict alien life dating back thousands
of years.
OOPARTS: An Oopart (out of place artifact) is a term
applied to dozens of prehistoric objects found in various places around the world that, given
their level of technology, are completely at odds with their determined age based on
physical, chemical, or geological evidence.
Ooparts often are frustrating to the scientific world, and a delight to adventurous investigators
and individuals interested in alternative scientific theories.
In 1991, the appearance of extremely tiny coil-shaped artifacts, found near the banks
of Russia’s Kozhim, Narada, and Balbanyu rivers, brought about a debate that has continued
even to this day.
These manufactured coils were initially discovered during geological research associated with
the extraction of gold in the Ural mountains.
These pieces include coils, spirals, shafts, and other unidentified components.
What is so mysterious about these artifacts is that they were found at a depth between
10 and 40 feet, in a geological stratus between 20,000 and 318,000 years old.
Does it suggest that there may have been a culture, capable of developing nanotechnology
300,000 years ago?
The shape of these artifacts, suggests that they are manufactured, and not naturally occurring
metal fragments.
In fact, they have been found to closely resemble the same miniature components of contemporary
nanotechnology.
Now some have argued, that these tiny structures are merely debris left behind from test rockets,
being launched from nearby Plesetsk space station.
However, a report from the Moscow Institute determined, that they are far too old to have
come from modern manufacturing.
Moreover, the Central Scientific Research Department of Geology and Exploitation of
Precious Metals in Moscow, has concluded that despite being thousands of years old, the
components are of a technological origin.
All of the objects seem to be manufactured, as no type of natural process known could
explain their creation.
How humans 100,000 years ago would have been able to be technologically advanced to such
a degree as to be able to create them is unknown.
Is this mysterious discovery evidence that humans may have been more technologically
advanced than previously believed, or are the objects evidence of extraterrestrial contact
or presence?
A Missed-Call From Proxima Centauri: In 2019, astronomers discovered a radio signal
that appeared to come from Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun.
Though the signal was clearly unnatural in origin, it bore no obvious mark of humanity.
The scientists named it Breakthrough Listen Candidate 1, or BLC1, after the state-of-the-art
search for extraterrestrial intelligence that made the detection.
What’s so fascinating about this signal is that it had almost all the characteristics
we expect from a technosignature, meaning evidence of the use of technology.
That is no mean feat.
There are several ways radio searches check whether a signal might truly have come from
an alien civilization, and BLC1 was the only one ever that checked all the most important
boxes.
However, when astronomers tried to observe Proxima Centauri again in 2020, and yet again
exactly two years after the original detection, BLC1 had disappeared.
They ruled that the signal might have been human anomaly after all, but we are still
not sure.
And let’s not forget, Proxima B lies in the habitable zone of its star.
An array of UFOs Seeing one UFO is exciting, perhaps intoxicating
even.
But what would you say to an array of UFOs parked in a line?
Astronaut Gordon Cooper, who flew both the Mercury 9 and the Gemini 5, claims to have
seen an entire convoy of UFOs during his time with the Air Force.
Interestingly, 10 years later, he came across something very similar.
In 1963, while on a solo journey around the Earth, when he was just finishing his 22-orbit
trip, he saw a green glowing object hurtling towards his Mercury capsule.
The scene was picked up on radar by the tracking station in Muchea Australia which makes it
quite extraordinary and very believable.
When he described the incident to the United Nations, he said that these extra-terrestrial
vehicles and their crews were visiting from other planets.
He said that while most astronauts are reluctant to discuss UFOs, in 1951 he had the privilege
of seeing several UFOs of different sizes flying in fighter formation, in the general
direction of east to west over Europe.
Are we being watched?
A small step for man, a giant leap for mankind.
These famous words by Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, were further
enhanced by his sightings of not just a UFO but a whole UFO parking lot!
Imagine that!
During the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, after Armstrong landed on the moon, it is believed
that NASA lost transmission with the space mission for about two minutes.
It is rumoured that during that time, Armstrong sent a secret message to NASA saying, "These
babies were huge, sir!
Enormous!
Oh, God!
You wouldn't believe it!
... I'm telling you there are other space-crafts out here ... lined up on the far side of the
crater's edge!
... They're on the moon watching us!"
While there are several such tales about Armstrong and his first lunar landing, he himself is
quite secretive and reticent about his experiences.
He will not confirm or deny such rumours.
Perhaps because there is likely no factual basis for these musings?
Or perhaps, they are so fantastical that if true, they would create a huge uproar.
The Nazca lines
The Nazca lines located in southern Peru are a collection of over 10,000 lines etched into
desert sands.
They form around 300 geoglyphs of various images depicting animals, figures and plants.
What’s truly incredible about those geoglyphs is their sheer scale, some of which stretch
more than 9 kilometers and measure 30 meters wide.
Due to their sheer scale, many consider that these Nazca lines must have been created from
an aerial point of view insinuating that aliens must have been responsible.
What do you guys think?
Do any of these hit home?
Do you think we have got company?
Or are we truly alone, until we make the first contact?
Drop in your comments to let us know, and don’t forget to subscribe to Lab three sixty,
because together, we will explore.