Alien Life May Be Found Within 40 Years Claims Royal Astronomer To The Queen

Finding alien life beyond our solar system would be the most profound discovery in all of humanity, and a royal astronomer for the Queen of England believes it could happen within the next 40 years.

Former Royal Society president, Lord Martin Rees, speaking at the launch of Professor Stephen Hawking’s new series ‘Grand Design,’ said evidence of whether alien life exists elsewhere in the universe could be answered in that timeframe. He said he believes that astro-physicists could be able to view images of distant planets outside the solar system as early as 2025, potentially leading to the discovery of some form of life, the Telegraph reported.

“We know now that stars are orbited by retinues of planets just as our sun is. We have learned this in just the last decade, essentially,” Rees said. “Within 10 or 20 years we will be able to image other planets like the earth, orbiting other stars. That will be a really exciting subject to see if there is evidence for [extra-terrestrial] life or not.”

Hawking’s series, which will air on Discovery Channel beginning next Thursday, will be based on his best-selling book by the same name. It will study everything from Isaac Newton’s theories on gravity to the recent Higgs boson findings, and everything in between. He will also air his take on the relationship between God and science, and what the meaning of life is for humans, reports Mail Online’s Liz Thomas.


http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112689508/alien-life-40-years-090712/