If you're holding your breath for word from aliens, don't. For, it could take around 1,500 years before we hear anything, claim scientists.
The search for extraterrestrial life is one of humanity's persistent endeavors that until now have not yielded results, despite billions of dollars being spent. The absence of signs of intelligent life out there in the vast emptiness has convinced many that humans are alone in the big bad universe. Two astronomers from Cornell University have suggested that we simply have to wait longer.
The student-professor duo has discussed in a recently published paper the likelihood of hearing from alien life following eight decades of radio transmissions. They reckoned that our efforts must have covered less than one percent of the Milky Way, a tiny amount given our aspirations.
"We predict that under 1 percent of the galaxy has been reached at all thus far, and we do not anticipate to be reached until approximately half of the stars/planets have been reached," they said. "We offer a prediction that we should not expect this until at least 1,500 years in the future. Thus the Fermi paradox is not a shocking observation, and humanity may very well be contacted within our species' lifespan."
The Fermi paradox, as CNN explains, wonders why we haven't found alien life yet if the universe is brimming with earth-like planets. By combining it with Mediocrity Principle propounded by 16th century astronomer Copernicus, researchers arrived at their calculations.
"Even our mundane, typical spiral galaxy - not exceptionally large compared to other galaxies - is vast beyond imagination," said one of the authors Evan Solomonides. "Those numbers are what make the Fermi Paradox so counterintuitive. We have reached so many stars and planets, surely we should have reached somebody by now, and in turn been reached ... this demonstrates why we appear to be alone," he added.
