14 DAY TRIAL // A Russian expert recently announced in a press conference that he believes our species will meet with an alien race as soon as two decades. Astronomer Andrei Finkelstein made the announcement during a meeting that was held on June 27.
He is convinced that extraterrestrial intelligence exists, and that our two civilizations are very likely to make contact. Finkelstein also said that the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Initiative is very likely to play an important role in all this.
The Russian astronomer is the director of the Applied Astronomy Institute in St. Petersburg, which belongs to the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was speaking at an international conference dealing with the search for alien civilizations.
Based on a large number of new studies, the official said that the creation of new life on distant celestial bodies is just as inevitable as the creation of atoms. Numerous new works have demonstrated that life can indeed grab a foothold in a wider range of worlds than initially calculated.
“There are fundamental laws which apply to the entire Universe,” Finkelstein told attendants at the conference, as quoted by the Interfax news agency. He reasoned the at the creation of intelligent life here ion Earth followed a series of natural events that can occur on other worlds as well.
Another factor the official took into account is the large number of extrasolar worlds that telescopes discovered since 1995. More than 560 exoplanets have already been confirmed, and as many as 1,235 are awaiting confirmation. The latter were found by the NASA Kepler Telescope.
Interestingly, Finklestein also proposes that aliens, regardless of their peculiarities, would be humanoid in shape. If the same processes led to the development of intelligent life here on Earth, then there is good reason to assume that evolution followed the same course on other worlds.
Naturally, there would be variations, such as the type and color of skin, or the height, and some other factors. But overall we would see aliens with two hands, two feet and one head, Space reports.
In order for the aliens to be discovered within 20 years, a series of conditions need to be met, the Russian official said. The alien world has to be within 20 light-years from our planet, he said.
Another important factor is for the aliens to have the ability to send high-power radiation or radio signals through space, with sufficient intensity to reach Earth in their own right.