There could be as many as 42,777 intelligent alien civilizations in our galaxy that could make contact within the next 2,000 years, scientific research shows, The Daily Caller reported.
The research was published in The Astrophysical Journal, and the findings have an error rate of plus or minus a few hundred. The authors based those results on an optimistic estimate that only 0.1% of alien civilizations could advance to the degree that interstellar communication within the Milky Way galaxy would be possible, The Daily Caller noted.
This suggests that it would take as little as 2,000 years for any messages or signals to reach Earth. To date, the Wow! Signal heard at the Big Ear radio telescope in Ohio in 1977 is the only signal ever potentially received from alien life, according to Forbes. The sound was heard for 72 seconds and has never been repeated.
The study's authors estimated that there could be just 0.001% of civilizations, or only about 111, that could become developed enough to communicate with human life.
"The minimum value (0.001%) we take may also be overestimated," authors Wenjie Song and He Gao, both part of Beijing Normal University's Department of Astronomy, described in the conclusions and discussions section. "If so, the number of [communicating extraterrestrial intelligent civilizations] CETIs would become even lower, and the opportunities for communication between CETIs would become extremely small."
Some members of Congress reportedly believe that the Pentagon is not taking reports of UFOs seriously enough as scientists ramp up sending radio messages into deep space and military-personnel reports of UFO/UAP-related events continue to surface, The Daily Caller reported.
Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act four months ago, which required the Pentagon to create an Anomaly Surveillance and Resolution Office to thoroughly investigate and analyze UFOs or "unidentified aerial phenomena," according to the legislation.
Even if a message is ever sent to us from an advanced civilization elsewhere in the Milky Way the question remains as to whether humans can survive long enough to receive it, Forbes notes. The authors suggest that we will need to wait as little as 2,000 years to receive one alien signal.
Forbes magazine observed: "Space is big — really big — and even in-galaxy messaging is completely impractical. Even if we're not alone it's doubtful we'll ever find out."
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