IS THERE LIFE OUTSIDE OUR PLANET?

OLD ILLUSTRATIONS

An 1803 illustration from Ume No Chiri depicts a real-life artefact

found by a Japanese sailor. Its exterior was iron and glass and the

inside featured the strange letters pictured in the drawing. Was this

the creation of a vivid imagination, or was the artist inspired by

technology beyond the times?

AUSTRALIAN ROCK ART

Predominantly found in the remote Australian northwest Kimberly

region, there are ancient drawings (known as Wandjina paintings)

on rocks that show beings with enlarged bald heads, large

slanted eyes, and no mouths. Aliens maybe?

AREA 51

The US Air Force acquired the area in 1955 and all the research about

possible sightings or alien landings associated with the place is

well guarded. Its secretive nature and undoubted connection to

classified aircraft research, together with reports of unusual

phenomena, have made Area 51 a focus of modern UFO

conspiracy theories.

APOLLO 11’S UFO SIGHTING

In a documentary about the Apollo 11 space mission, the astronauts

stated without reservation that they saw a UFO that kept pace with

them for a time while on their journey to the moon. Though

explanations for this UFO sighting range from the rocket that had

separated from the main craft to the sun reflecting off the

detached panels.

ALIEN SCORPIONS

A published article in the Russian Solar System Research magazine

claimed that a Soviet probe actually captured images of alien life

(creatures that looked like scorpions) on Earth’s scorching sister

Venus back in 1982. (Though it’s important to note that most scientists

have attributed this “scorpion” to faulty camera lenses).

ALIEN FOSSILS

NASA’s scientists have recently found tiny fossils of bacterial

alien life-forms in the remnants of a meteorite that landed on Earth.

ALIEN ABDUCTION

Throughout the years many people have claimed to have been

abducted by aliens. Though these kind of claims warrant

scepticism, it’s not outside the realm of possibility for these

claims to have some merit. Most notably a few year ago a victim

from Gulf Breeze, Florida, claimed, a “large human-like figure” took

a sample from his spine with a syringe while he was sleeping in

his home. Was this truly intelligent life performing research on

this man, a mere hallucination, or an elaborate hoax?

THE KNOWN UNIVERSE ITSELF

Technically speaking, there is no direct proof that life outside our

planet exists, at least not yet. Nevertheless, our universe is home

to a lot of stars, and about half of them (that we know of) harbour

planets. It’s difficult to believe that our planet is the only planet that

has gone through life sustaining changes. It’s not entirely out of the

realm of possibility, but it’s more likely that there is indeed life out

there somewhere and we just haven’t found it yet.