New theories have been unveiled about one of the biggest mysterious of our kind, and it states that alien life is an epidemic across the universe that possibly spreads from planet to planet. There are two new fascinating possibilities brought to our attention that might explain our existence, along with the possibility of others across the galaxy.
Astronomers, scientists and even philosophers have debated along the years if we are truly alone in this vast and unexplored world. The thought of us being the only life within such an expansive universe can be considered arrogant, and yet, we have found no proof that the assumption is wrong. We’re left with guesses, estimations, theories and hope.
Researchers Henry Lin and Avi Loeb at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have come up with two new theories to boggle the minds of scientists and open up new possibilities. Life itself could be spread among stars and planets through a process called panspermia.
There are two possible methods through which their theory could spark truth. One is that life-containing material is carried by asteroids or comets, and once they crash into planets, the plant the seed of life or sends it forward by means of debris. The fact that chunks can travel from one planet to another has been proven by findings of Mars rocks on Earth.
Thus, our existence on our Earth could have been brought by an asteroid impact. The process has been called “gravitational slingshooting”.
The second theory presents a more controversial belief that there is a highly intelligent species out there that purposefully seeds other planets with life, that aliens themselves deliberately encourage the spreading of other civilizations and allow life to spread through the cosmos.
It’s theorized that it can travel from one planet to another, among stars and throughout the galaxy until it finds a habitable host, thus “infecting” the universe with little pockets of life. Similar to bubbles coming off boiling water, there may be nearby worlds where they ‘burst’ and spread the existence of other beings, which means that half the planets we could find in the future should be inhabited.
However, it should be noted that these are very tiny bubbles within a very vast boiling pot.
The researched have made the hopeful statement that we might soon be able to distinguish a pattern of these “bubbles of life” and track down where they were headed, though certain important factors remain unknown. The speed with which it can travel is one, not to mention the fact that stars change their positions through millions of years.
Once scientists develop a way to detect life on exoplanets or find this pattern, we might get a better sense on where Earth is in the universe’s lifespan and how deep were are within this ‘infection of life’.
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