![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2022\/06\/GettyImages-1301753235-2a5bacc-e1655899146465.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C389"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>UFO sightings<\/strong><\/h2>\nThere is no real point in talking to people who say that they have been taken for rides in flying saucers, or have been kidnapped by aliens and kept prisoner until released.<\/p>\n
Trying to argue with these earnest folk is rather like trying to eat tomato soup with a fork, and one gets nowhere.<\/p>\n
The same is true of Flat Earthers, hollow-globers and people who believe that Bacon wrote Shakespeare.<\/p>\n
But there are undeniably some UFO sightings that cannot be dismissed so easily \u2013 so is there any possibility of an alien visitor?<\/p>\n
I am going to cause some raised eyebrows by saying that it is not impossible. But first, let me turn to the real answers to most UFO sightings.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> If you see a low-lying bright light in the early evening or morning, could it simply be Venus or Mercury? Credit: John Chumack<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nVenus<\/a> is one. The planet can be striking, and atmospheric turbulence in front of it can give the impression that it is moving.<\/p>\nJupiter<\/a> and, very occasionally, Mars<\/a> have also been mistaken for UFOs, and of course today we have artificial satellites.<\/p>\nThe International Space Station<\/a> can be very spectacular as it moves majestically across the starry background, and indeed it is possible to see the ISS in the night sky<\/a>.<\/p>\nHowever, all these reports can be explained at once.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> The International Space Station in the night sky above Banff National Park, Canada. Credit: Alan Dyer\/Stocktrek Images\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nStrange phenomena in our atmosphere? Ball lightning is probably the oldest and is still not fully understood.<\/p>\n
It is rare, and I have seen it only once in my 86 years \u2013 but nobody could possibly take it for an alien spacecraft.<\/p>\n
If you do see it, treat it with respect. It is liable to go off with a bang!<\/p>\n
For more of these, read our guide to things commonly mistaken for UFOs<\/a>.<\/p>\nReceiving messages from an alien civilisation<\/strong><\/h2>\n ![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\nAn artist\u2019s impression of the four exoplanets in orbit around Tau Ceti. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/p>\n
Messages from another world? We have never received any, though careful searches have been made, not least by the SETI Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe first of these dates back to 1970, when Frank Drake \u2013 of the famous Drake Equation<\/a> \u2013 and his team in the USA used a large radio telescope to listen out for any rhythmical signals from planets orbiting the nearest solar-type stars, Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani.<\/p>\nMessages from Mars have been reported often enough \u2013 on one occasion by the brilliant if eccentric Nikola Tesla \u2013 but there are no canal-building Martians, and it is safe to say that there is no advanced life anywhere in the Solar System except on Earth.<\/p>\n
![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> The icy, cracked surface of Europa. Image: NASA\/JPL<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nIt is possible that primitive organisms survive on Mars or in the sunless seas of Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa or Saturn\u2019s moon Enceladus, but that is all.<\/p>\n
If we want to find advanced life, we must look much further afield.<\/p>\n
Visits from alien beings?<\/strong><\/h2>\n ![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Alpha Centauri and its surroundings captured by the Digitized Sky Survey 2 telescope in the Atacama Desert, Chile. Credit: ESO\/Digitized Sky Survey 2 Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nI have already said that I do not believe that an alien visitation is impossible. Now I will explain my reasons\u2026<\/p>\n
We have sent humans to the Moon and uncrewed probes to all the planets in the Sun\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
It takes a day or so to reach the Moon, a few months to reach Mars or Venus, and a few years to reach the giant planets: Voyager 2, launched in 1977, by-passed Neptune<\/a> in 1989.<\/p>\nTimewise, all this is manageable, but reaching the stars is quite another matter.<\/p>\n
You may have heard talk in UFO circles of the belief in an alien species inhabiting the Zeta Reticuli<\/a> system, but even our nearest stars, those of the Alpha Centauri<\/a> system, are over 4 lightyears away, ie, well over 20 million million miles (Epsilon Eridani is over 10 lightyears away, Tau Ceti over 11).<\/p>\nI suppose that we really could try to send a probe to Alpha Centauri, but there would be no hope of maintaining contact with it, and to suggest that it might carry a crew is the stuff of sheer fantasy.<\/p>\n
I know that efforts will be made to build a spacecraft able to travel much faster than those of today, capable of reaching Jupiter or even Neptune in a week.<\/p>\n
But to reach Alpha Centauri in a few years would mean moving at almost the speed of light, and this, I am sure, is something that we will never be able to do.<\/p>\n
So why do I not rule out all alien visitors?<\/p>\n
![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> An artist\u2019s impression of Earth-like exoplanet Kepler-186f. Credit: NASA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nSimply because there are 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way system, many of them attended by planets, and our Galaxy is only one of many.<\/p>\n
Millions of millions of Earth-like exoplanets<\/a> must exist, and surely there must be vast numbers of civilisations.<\/p>\nOurs is young, and it has taken only a few tens of thousands of years for Homo sapiens to evolve from cave-dwellers whose conversation was limited to \u201cug\u201d and \u201cog\u201d, to technicians able to produce nuclear bombs.<\/p>\n
It is patently obvious that we cannot send material rockets to worlds beyond the Solar System, and we have no inkling of any other method.<\/p>\n
Using, for example, space-warps, time-warps or thought-travel is completely unrealistic.<\/p>\n
But I repeat \u2013 and this is the crux of my argument \u2013 our civilisation is young, and we are still going through the stage when we have the scientific ability to destroy ourselves but are not intelligent enough to live together in peace.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Hubble Ultra-Deep Field 3, June 2014. Virtually every point of light in this image is a galaxy, each composed of billions of stars. Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Teplitz and M. Rafelski (IPAC\/Caltech), A. Koekemoer (STScI), R. Windhorst (Arizona State University), Z. Levay (STScI)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nOther civilisations, older and wiser than ours, must surely have passed through this stage, and may well have solved the problem of interstellar travel.<\/p>\n
If so, the Earth could well be on their visiting list.<\/p>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/02\/Mercury-_Venus_Dawn013016HRweb-58bd05a-e1656935066739.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C397"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Venus<\/a> is one. The planet can be striking, and atmospheric turbulence in front of it can give the impression that it is moving.<\/p>\n Jupiter<\/a> and, very occasionally, Mars<\/a> have also been mistaken for UFOs, and of course today we have artificial satellites.<\/p>\n The International Space Station<\/a> can be very spectacular as it moves majestically across the starry background, and indeed it is possible to see the ISS in the night sky<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, all these reports can be explained at once.<\/p>\n Strange phenomena in our atmosphere? Ball lightning is probably the oldest and is still not fully understood.<\/p>\n It is rare, and I have seen it only once in my 86 years \u2013 but nobody could possibly take it for an alien spacecraft.<\/p>\n If you do see it, treat it with respect. It is liable to go off with a bang!<\/p>\n For more of these, read our guide to things commonly mistaken for UFOs<\/a>.<\/p>\n An artist\u2019s impression of the four exoplanets in orbit around Tau Ceti. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/p>\n Messages from another world? We have never received any, though careful searches have been made, not least by the SETI Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n The first of these dates back to 1970, when Frank Drake \u2013 of the famous Drake Equation<\/a> \u2013 and his team in the USA used a large radio telescope to listen out for any rhythmical signals from planets orbiting the nearest solar-type stars, Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani.<\/p>\n Messages from Mars have been reported often enough \u2013 on one occasion by the brilliant if eccentric Nikola Tesla \u2013 but there are no canal-building Martians, and it is safe to say that there is no advanced life anywhere in the Solar System except on Earth.<\/p>\n It is possible that primitive organisms survive on Mars or in the sunless seas of Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa or Saturn\u2019s moon Enceladus, but that is all.<\/p>\n If we want to find advanced life, we must look much further afield.<\/p>\n I have already said that I do not believe that an alien visitation is impossible. Now I will explain my reasons\u2026<\/p>\n We have sent humans to the Moon and uncrewed probes to all the planets in the Sun\u2019s family.<\/p>\n It takes a day or so to reach the Moon, a few months to reach Mars or Venus, and a few years to reach the giant planets: Voyager 2, launched in 1977, by-passed Neptune<\/a> in 1989.<\/p>\n Timewise, all this is manageable, but reaching the stars is quite another matter.<\/p>\n You may have heard talk in UFO circles of the belief in an alien species inhabiting the Zeta Reticuli<\/a> system, but even our nearest stars, those of the Alpha Centauri<\/a> system, are over 4 lightyears away, ie, well over 20 million million miles (Epsilon Eridani is over 10 lightyears away, Tau Ceti over 11).<\/p>\n I suppose that we really could try to send a probe to Alpha Centauri, but there would be no hope of maintaining contact with it, and to suggest that it might carry a crew is the stuff of sheer fantasy.<\/p>\n I know that efforts will be made to build a spacecraft able to travel much faster than those of today, capable of reaching Jupiter or even Neptune in a week.<\/p>\n But to reach Alpha Centauri in a few years would mean moving at almost the speed of light, and this, I am sure, is something that we will never be able to do.<\/p>\n So why do I not rule out all alien visitors?<\/p>\n Simply because there are 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way system, many of them attended by planets, and our Galaxy is only one of many.<\/p>\n Millions of millions of Earth-like exoplanets<\/a> must exist, and surely there must be vast numbers of civilisations.<\/p>\n Ours is young, and it has taken only a few tens of thousands of years for Homo sapiens to evolve from cave-dwellers whose conversation was limited to \u201cug\u201d and \u201cog\u201d, to technicians able to produce nuclear bombs.<\/p>\n It is patently obvious that we cannot send material rockets to worlds beyond the Solar System, and we have no inkling of any other method.<\/p>\n Using, for example, space-warps, time-warps or thought-travel is completely unrealistic.<\/p>\n But I repeat \u2013 and this is the crux of my argument \u2013 our civilisation is young, and we are still going through the stage when we have the scientific ability to destroy ourselves but are not intelligent enough to live together in peace.<\/p>\n Other civilisations, older and wiser than ours, must surely have passed through this stage, and may well have solved the problem of interstellar travel.<\/p>\n If so, the Earth could well be on their visiting list.<\/p>\n![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2020\/05\/how-to-see-the-international-space-station-de75cbc.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C414"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Receiving messages from an alien civilisation<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/06\/iceberg-b4f65a0.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C349"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Visits from alien beings?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2020\/06\/2899_Earthlike1600x750-e6f7e27.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C291"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/25\/2019\/12\/12-Ultraviolet-Coverage-Hubble-Ultra-Deep-Field-8637904-2.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C566"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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