Chris Lintott Professor of Astrophysics in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford has claimed, due to the vast amount of planets in the universe, there is a “good chance” that aliens do exist – but ET’s chances of survival could be down to its moon.
Some scientists believe the origin of life on Earth was aided by the fact our planet has a large moon.
It is theorised by experts the gravitational pull of a large moon on a planet can stabilise the planets axis rotation, leading to a stronger ecosystem and a greater chance of life beginning.
Speaking at the New Scientist Live conference, Prof Lintott said: “The moon stabilises our planet, it brings tides and changes to the environment which allows species to evolve.
“Mars does not have a big enough moon, so it wobbles causing massive climate fluctuations.”
Prof Lintott said that the chances of finding extraterrestrial life depends on the prospect of finding a planet with a large enough moon which stabilises the planet.
However, he is not optimistic.
The professor said: “I will predict that in the next ten years we will not have found a planet that will have a large moon.”
Prof Lintott went on to discuss other problems which are standing in the way of experts finding ET.
He said: “Life needs roughly the conditions you have on Earth, water and a solid surface.
“We know these planets are common, there are 17 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way alone.
“17 billion is a big number, and even if we got rid of half of them then there are still a lot of Earth-like planets.
“The problem is most planets we have discovered are hot – they are typically closer to their star than Mercury and Venus are to ours.
“We assume that if life can get started on Earth, then there is a chance it could get started on some other planets.”
“I can tell you places where life might exist, but we don’t understand how life actually starts. It might be impossibly hard and we just won the lottery.”
Prof Lintott concluded: “Forty years of searching for aliens has found absolutely nothing.
“But that doesn’t mean we should stop looking.”