This is one of the biggest unanswered questions in science – is there a foreigner on another planet?
Now, scientists claim that if there were aliens, they could already be observing us.
Researchers at Cornell University have found that some exoplanets could get in direct line to observe life on Earth.
The team has identified 1,004 stars along the line in their eyes, which may contain habitable, Earth-like planets.
Co-author of the survey. Lisa Kaltenzer said: “Let us look at the other stars in reverse to see if other observers would see Earth as a moving planet.
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“If observers continue to search there, they will be able to see signs of any living things in the atmosphere of the Blue Dot in our palm. Even in our night sky we can see something of this brightness without binoculars or binoculars.
In the study, the team used data from NASA’s Transiting Explanate Survey Satellite (TSES) to determine which stars might be in line with their vision.
Joshua Pepper, co-author of the study, said: “Only a very small fraction of the exoplanets will be randomly aligned with our perspective so that we can see their transit.
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“But all of the thousands of stars we’ve identified in our solar eclipse paper can be transmitted to our Earth by the Sun, attracting their attention.”
“If we find a planet with a living organism, we’ll be interested in whether anyone there is even looking at us,” Kaltenger said.
“If we’re looking for intelligent life in the universe, it can find us and come in contact with them,” he said, adding that “we’ve just created a map of the stars where we should first meet.”
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