We Just Found 29 Planets Where Life May Be Watching Earth

You're gazing up at the night sky.

Wow.

For much of our history, we've been looking for life among these stars and the planets near them.

But space has eyes too, and there's someone out there looking at us, maybe.

Scientists claim that at least 29 distant planets may be watching us right now.

So comb your hair and smile.

We've so far identified at least 1,715 neighboring star systems in the Milky Way

that can detect our planet with conventional telescopes.

These stars are located in our galaxy.

So if they were to point their telescopes at our sun, sooner or later they would see a small dot

that passes between our home star and the observer.

This is called a transit.

It's a method of detecting planets in astronomy.

For example, you can observe transit phenomenon right at home with a telescope.

You have to point it at the sun and wait.

Then you'll see Mercury.

That's the closest planet to the sun, and now you see it as a small dot.

Mercury transit process can last about 5 hours.

And this phenomenon happens about 14 times in a century.

You'll be able to observe the next transit on November 13th, 2032.

Mark your calendar.

Likewise, you can observe Venus, the second planet from the sun.

But because it's farther away, its transits are less frequent.

The last one was in 2004 and 2012.

The next pair of transits is expected in 2117 and 2125.

Hey, I won't be around then.

So these star systems have the opportunity to observe our planet.

But long-range telescopes work a little differently.

Actually, the observer will not see a black dot with the sun in the background.

The telescope will measure the brightness of our star.

When Earth begins its transit between the sun and the observer,

the telescope will record a slight drop in the brightness of the star

because our planet is blocking the path of the sun's rays.

Those far away scientists of extraterrestrial civilizations

will be able to calculate this drop in brightness

and determine the size of our planet.

But not all 1700-plus star systems may have extraterrestrial life.

Scientists have narrowed it down to 29 planets near some of these stars.

They're potentially habitable.

That means these planets are roughly Earth-like in size

and within the habitable zone of their host star.

That means they're not too close to the star,

so it's not too hot for a potential life.

The water doesn't evaporate there like in a boiling pot.

And they're not too far away,

so it's not too cold and the water doesn't freeze into thick sheets of ice.

And since water is the basis of life,

we can assume that civilization might exist there.

Theoretically, these planets could have seen Earth transits in the last 5,000 years.

So while we were building the pyramids of Giza or Stonehenge,

an extraterrestrial civilization may have been watching us.

One of these planets is only 11 light years from our home.

Near the Ross 128 star, a red dwarf in the constellation Virgo.

There's an exoplanet about twice the size of Earth

and right in the habitable zone of its host star.

Theoretically, the inhabitants of this planet

could see Earth transit the Sun on a regular basis for 2,000 years.

But about 900 years ago,

the planet lost its position

and can no longer continue observation.

The other planet where Earth can be seen transiting

is 12.5 light years away.

Near the star called T-Garden,

the window for observing our planet

will open there in about 29 years.

We're betting heavily on the Trappist I star system.

It hosts at least 7 exoplanets,

almost like our solar system.

And four of them are in the habitable zone of the star,

but they won't be able to start observing Earth

until 16 centuries from now.

But we can try to make contact with these planets right now.

They're all close enough to us to pick up our radio signals.

Radio waves can travel through space at the speed of light,

and our planet has been emitting radio signals continuously

since 1895.

So, we're like noisy neighbors in the radio spectrum.

If there's a planet somewhere

with an intelligent civilization

within 125 light years of us,

our radio noise would have already reached them.

The only problem is,

it would take about the same time

to get a response from that civilization.

The other problem with radio

is that any civilization uses it

for a relatively short period.

Even now on Earth,

we use Bluetooth and fiber optics more than radio,

except for maybe traffic reports.

And over time,

all the radio noise we create

will simply disappear.

Also, radio communication assumes

that an extraterrestrial civilization

is advanced enough to use this technology.

But who knows?

Maybe there are life forms in space

that are really different from ours.

Our radio signals already could have reached that planet.

But it's inhabitants simply

aren't capable of receiving them.

And the moment these life forms

build antennas to receive the signal

will no longer emit them.

But we don't lose hope,

and we even send encrypted radio signals into space

to communicate with extraterrestrial civilizations.

In 1974,

we sent the Aresibo message

into interstellar space.

If some civilization can decipher it,

they'll get a rectangle like this.

It has all the information about humanity.

At the top is our number system,

then the atomic numbers.

And then our DNA,

which is pictured below,

then a human being itself, of course.

Below is a diagram of our solar system.

Earth,

the third planet from the Sun,

is slightly elevated.

This is how the extraterrestrial civilization

will understand which planet this message came from.

Below is a diagram of the Aresibo radio telescope itself.

Another option how to deliver a message to a distant planet

is to literally send a male delivery there.

It could be a space probe.

And we've already done that.

These are Voyagers 1 and 2.

They were launched in 1977

and are still operational.

In 2012, Voyager 1 became the first ever

human-made object in interstellar space.

It travels to distant stars

and carries a message written on a golden record.

The disk contains greetings in 55 earth languages.

A lot of music from different parts of our planet.

Different sounds like ocean noise,

human voices and animal sounds.

In addition, there are 116 images on the record.

These are pictures of people and earthly landscapes.

In these pictures,

there's information about the Sun and our DNA.

The record case contains instructions

and a needle to play the record.

There's also a map of our galaxy's pulsars

so that astronomers from an extraterrestrial civilization

can find our solar system.

The main disadvantage of sending a message this way is time.

Voyager 1 will reach its first stop,

the Giles 445 star in 40 thousand years.

Voyager 2 will reach the Ross 248 star in 42 thousand years.

And in about 296 thousand years,

it'll pass serious, the brightest star in the night sky.

I can't wait.

Also, an extraterrestrial civilization can detect us

with calculations and formulas.

All it takes is a little observation of the Sun.

In star systems with planets,

the host star doesn't stand still.

It rotates around a small orbit.

This is because the heavy star attracts the planet

but the planet also has its own gravity and resists.

This shifts the star a little and causes it to orbit around.

An extraterrestrial civilization can calculate this shift of the Sun

and determine the mass of the planets near the star.

Using such a method,

astronomers were able to find 548 exoplanets.

Now suppose we made contact with an extraterrestrial civilization

near the closest star, Proximus and Tari.

There's indeed an exoplanet there,

but radiation from the host star would destroy any life forms.

But imagine we still got a return signal.

It would be the slowest chat in history

because our message would take 4.2 years to reach the planet

and would have to wait another 4.2 years to get a response.

And so we arranged to meet.

This civilization doesn't know how to fly into space.

So we have to take the first step.

Although Proximus and Tari is the closest star to our solar system,

it takes about 73,000 years to travel there by conventional rocket.

So we have to learn to travel at the speed of light.

But even then, it would take 4.2 years to travel there.

Imagine if we found extraterrestrial life on the other side of the Milky Way.

Our galaxy is 100,000 light years wide.

So the journey from edge to edge would take 100 millennia.

So we either have to cheat the laws of physics

or transfer all of human civilization to a giant spaceship

that will travel from star to star for thousands of years.

And when it launches from Earth,

only the great, great, great, great and many more greats

of the first crew will be able to see another star system from the spaceship portal.

Hey, can you move your head? I'm trying to see out the window.