The Invisible Universe: Where Life May Truly Hide

Introduction

Have you ever wondered if life among the stars exists? Imagine that somewhere in the universe lies an alien waking up late for work, just like us. They would rush out the door with only minutes to spare and speed through traffic in an attempt not to be late. A relatable feeling, and an interesting thought, but it leaves you a question. If there is life out there, where is everyone?

I think that is why I love science. It forces you to ask questions and search for answers, even if they are not ones you like. That is why, when we ask, ” if aliens exist, where are they?” the answer might be simpler than you know. They could be Everywhere.

Staring into the past

One of the most interesting facts I have learned in my life is that we stare into the past every night and we don’t even realize it. This is because despite light being incredibly fast, it takes time to travel across space. A concept that allows us to witness stars as they existed millions of years ago. In a way it is poetic, because by the time we see them shine in our sky, they might have already died and faded away. You could say that the sky acts as a window back in time. It shows us what otherwise might have gone forgotten.

With that in mind, you might be wondering how this relates to life hidden within the universe. A good question with a simple answer. Stars are not the only thing we view from the past. Every picture we capture of the vast universe shows the cosmos as it existed before today. Take the James Webb Space Telescope, for example. The images we receive from this telescope reveal galaxies as they existed billions of years ago. For context, that predates the earth. If life existed there today, we would never know. They would be able to hide in plain sight because we are too busy looking in the wrong place. Back in time.

The Immense Universe

Beyond the challenge of seeing into the past, there is another reason why life may remain hidden to us. Truthfully, the universe might be too large. A good example of this was an image captured in 1990 by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. The captured photograph was titled the “Pale Blue Dot” and demonstrated how small our world looks when compared to the immense universe. From 3.7 billion miles away it is one of the farthest pictures we have of our planet, and if you don’t look close enough, you might not see it. In comparison, we really don’t look that special.

(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

With a universe so big, it is hard to imagine finding life out there. Even if we put the image above aside, our galaxy alone has over 100 billion stars each with the potential of having planets. With a galaxy that expansive, how can we truly know what is out there? Especially considering, our galaxy is one of trillions. Finding life in a universe this vast would be like trying to locate a single grain of sand in a desert the size of a planet.

But even if we could overcome all these challenges, one final obstacle still remains. How would other life reach us?

Traveling the stars

Imagine for a moment that deep within space exists a civilization that can travel the stars. They would have explored their own solar system, developed technology we cannot imagine, and might have even detected signs of life on our little world. Knowing that, do you think they would visit? I bet you would say yes, but sadly, we might not be worth the time.

186,000 miles per second is the fastest speed possible in the universe. It is how fast light travels to reach us. Put it into perspective, with that speed, you could circle the entire globe 7 times over in less then a second. Forget traffic, if you went that fast, you could go to Paris in the same amount of time it takes you to get out of bed. An amazing feat. Despite that, if you lived in one of the galaxies observed by the James Webb Space Telescope, it would still take billions of years for you to reach Earth. Even for an advanced civilization, a trip that long might seem unreasonable, if not outright impossible.

With that said, if they did choose to make the trip, what do you think they would find? After a few billion years we might all be dead. Would you want to make that trip just to see a graveyard?

Conclusion

In the end, even if life among the stars exists, we might never see it. Our view of space is too much like reading a history book. It is outdated. Additionally, there are challenges we may never overcome. Finding a world like ours, out of every planet that exists, may be too difficult. Besides, even if we could, how would we reach it? The truth is the time required for traveling the stars may take longer than we can live. Even for an advanced civilization, they may come to the same conclusion. Visiting earth might be trivial. At the end of the day, we just might not be as special as we think.

Luckily, none of this suggests life isn’t out there. All it means is we live in an invisible universe where life may be hiding just outside of our reach. One day, however, maybe someone will defy all the odds and make it to our little planet. Until then, keep staring up at the sky.