A study recently made headlines around the world after claiming 36 alien civilisations exist in the Milky Way. Experts say the work not only offers insights into the chances of alien life exists beyond Earth but could also shed light on our own future and place in the cosmos.
And now a pair of scientists have been inspired by the result to create a cutting-edge calculator able to replicate the scientific study.
UK-based Steven Wooding, an Institute of Physics member, and Dominik Czernia, a PhD candidate in molecular physics from Poland’s Institute of Nuclear Physics, revealed why they created the online tool.
Wooding told Express.co.uk: “We wanted to make an interactive and fun way to engage the public in the science of this fundamental question: ‘Are we alone in the universe?’
“The calculator allows people to easily see what the inputs to the model are from the research paper.
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“That’s an important point: we’re looking for advanced civilisations transmitting their presence, rather than primitive life.”
However, despite the ‘encouraging’ conclusion about the likely existence of alien life, the study’s other result is the 17,000 light-year distance to such civilisations.
He said: “If the alien civilisations are evenly spread around the Milky Way, that would mean a single conversation exchange would take 34,000 years.
“And even in the weak scenario, they get 928 civilisations. But that’s still 3,000 light-years away.
“So I think there’s probably aliens out there, but it’s going to be difficult to talk visit them.”
Mr Wooding added: “One of the authors of the paper thinks there are two trillion galaxies in the universe, which is 10 times more than we thought.
“So if there is one alien civilisation per galaxy in our universe, then there could be two trillion in the universe as a whole.”