Since childhood, most of us have been watching movies and TV shows which tell of the possible existence of alien lifeforms, a concept that is very popular throughout the world, but until now we’ve never truly known whether alien civilizations actually exist or not.

However, as technology has improved, we have been able to probe deeper into whether the concept of aliens is valid or not. Scientists have recently found some compelling evidence. According to an article in The Astrophysical Journal, it has been said that there could be dozens of intelligent lifeforms hidden around the universe communicating with one another.

This may seem like a confusing thought and many might find it very odd because we’ve always been told there is no proof of aliens. The assumption that aliens exist has been made through the fact that it takes around 5 billion years for intelligent life to form on a planet like Earth. If this is the case, then it is likely that other planets like Earth must have life on them.

The lead researcher believes that the idea is similar to evolution, but one needs to view it from a cosmic point of view. From their observations and findings, they predict that there must be 36 such civilizations in the universe which could have intelligent life on them.

Previously, all the research that had been conducted was based loosely on numbers that varied and were unpredictable. They believe that their new study has simplified such assumptions with new data and helped them research this specific number of alien civilizations.

Wrapped alongside the good news is bad news too. Even though such assumptions have been made with new data collected, the closest intelligent alien civilization must be at least 17,000 light-years away. Also, it could be possible that that civilization went extinct a long time ago.

Nonetheless, finding out more about such civilizations may give us more information about the future of humanity and reveal secrets and information we may not yet be aware of.

If we were to find out more about such civilizations, then this could help reveal the lifespan of the human race and how far we as humans can live until become extinct. However, if for example, we find that no such life exists, it predicts a grave future for our existence in this universe.

To consider that alien life could exist and might be just as technologically advanced, is very exciting, and the possibility that someone might be doing the same thing as me or you right now 17,000 light-years away is a weird thought.