The mysteries of the universe have always intrigued me
How did the universe begin?
How did life start?
Are we alone in the universe?
In this article I explore the latter
Over 400 years ago, an Italian monk called Giordano Bruno, wrote that “In space there are numberless earths circling around other suns, which may bear upon them creatures similar or even superior to those upon our human Earth.” He was burnt at the stake, in 1600, in Rome.
The idea of life on other planets was popularised by H.G.Wells and Jules Verne. It is still a popular idea in fiction now with TV shows like Star Trek and Stargate and in books still too.
In 1984 SETI ( the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) was set up to search for radio waves coming from space. they have developed technology that listens to space searching for noises that are more than background noise.
In 1996 NASA claimed to have found evidence of life on meteorites they believed to be from mars. This has fueled peoples interest in the subject. But after a few failures when they got to mars there was no sign of life. But they say it could hav been there once.
Today it is widely accepted that the inhabitants of planet earth are the only lifeforms in our solar system, but that does not mean we are alone in the universe. If there is life out there it may not be Superior to use or even equal to us. There are plenty of other solar systems out there that could harbor life.
I would love there to be other inhabited worlds out there.
I wrote this poem which fits in to this theme.
Looking to the Stars
As I lay and look up at the stars
The beauty of the night sky
The stars that shine above me.
My mind wanders
And I wonder
About what could be out there
Are we alone in the universe?
Or are there others out there
Looking up from their world
And wondering just like me?
If there are others
what do they look like?
Are they like us?
Are they different?
Black, White, Yellow or Green
Tall or short or inbetween
Humanoid, Reptilian or invertebrate
technologically advanced or not?
If there are others out there
Will I ever meet them?
Will they ever come to earth?
Will we go to find them?
Or will we never know?
In the poem I have thought about what they could look like and what technology they could have. In my mind there are endless posibilities.
It is highly probable that there are other inhabited planets out there but we will probably never find any within our life time.
