By 2040, First Contact is Anticipated, But We Won’t Witness it Firsthand
Several astronomers and experts believe that by 2040 we will find intelligent extraterrestrial life in the universe, thanks to the advances made possible by the potent Kepler telescope. Though it may sound improbable, several reliable scientists assert that it will not be long before we find evidence of sentient life and activity in space. Reaching that prospective alien race in reality is another story. It is improbable that humans will ever be able to go beyond our solar system because the cosmos is so vast and expansive. Remember that Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our own, is still 4.367 light years away. It would take us about 165,000 years to reach deep space using our existing Space Shuttle, which is not the best vessel for the job. This is because people are not capable of traveling at that speed. To reach Alpha Centauri, even quicker unmanned spacecraft like NASA’s New Horizons would need 78,000 years. That ought to help you gauge the scope of the work we have ahead of us. It would be very difficult for humanity to travel beyond our small corner of the universe due to the vast distances between Earth and the rest of the cosmos. As many scientists believe, communicating with sentient aliens on far-off planets is the best we can hope for. Perhaps we could become buddies on Facebook or something.
There is Lighting in the Space
There are other worlds besides Earth where lightning and electrical storms have been observed, most notably Mars and Saturn. Nevertheless, lightning has also been observed by scientists in the far reaches of space, and it is up to a trillion times more intense than it is on Earth. This intense flash of lightning, which was first seen close to Galaxy 3C303, is thought to have been produced by a black hole, whose magnetic field is so powerful that it can create lightning in deep space. Since no one had before proposed that electricity or lightning could exist outside of a planet’s atmosphere, this was seen as a significant discovery. It demonstrated once more how violent and potentially disastrous space and the universe are.
A Planet Composed of Diamonds Exists
Planet PSR J1719-1438b is the name given to it, and although the name may seem trite, this planet is dazzling since it is comprised of diamonds. It is composed, precisely, of crystalline carbon, the same substance that is present in diamonds on Earth. Before learning that their theories concerning the existence of planets composed entirely of carbon, or diamonds, were accurate, scientists had long entertained theories regarding their existence. PSR J1719-1438b is located far outside of our solar system, but the conditions there were ideal for the entire interior to crystallize, solidify, and transform into a planet-sized diamond. According to speculation, the planet was once a star that cooled to the point where it crystallized into a gigantic carbon chunk the size of a planet, just like a diamond. That would undoubtedly be impressive to see.
Water and Life on Mars
Does life exist on Mars? Has life ever existed on Mars? Will there be life on the Red Planet in the future? In 2015, NASA revealed that they had photographs demonstrating flowing water on Mars, which helped shed some light on these problems. When the weather is warm, actual liquid water has been seen running down the sides of mountains on Mars; when the temperature drops, the water freezes and vanishes. Given that water is a necessary component of life and that life on the Red Planet could not have existed without it, this discovery was hailed as a significant advance. Water can sustain some kinds of algae, fungi, or other primitive species, even on Mars. It may not be an intelligent life, and it probably isn’t. The consensus up until very recently was that Mars was a dead, barren planet. That theory is now nullified.
Black Holes
Black holes have been the focus of countless science fiction novels, comic books, movies, and scholarly symposiums, but real-world detection of them is relatively new. In actuality, physicists have long only considered black holes to be theories. This is because black holes eat everything in their path, including the light required to perceive them, which is why we now know they are invisible. But recently, researchers, among them the well-known theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, have discovered a means to identify and validate the existence of black holes. One method is through the existence of gravitational waves, which demonstrate space-based gravitational waves, including the gravitational attraction of black holes. Gravitational waves were first predicted by Albert Einstein over a century ago. The alternative approach involves looking for activity at the “event horizon,” or the point where everything is dragged into the emptiness of a black hole. It is a little simpler for everyone to believe in black holes because we are unable to definitively detect their presence.
