Feb 17, 2011 | Science
From time immemorial man has dreams of encounters with the aliens. There have been books written on it, movies made and it is the stuff of romantic scientific fantasy. I am however certain that even if there were other intelligent beings elsewhere in the universe, chances are that we will never get to communicate with aliens. This, in spite of the fact that there was a news item some days back that the chances of finding alien life were given a boost after NASA revealed it had found evidence of more than 1200 planets in orbit around far distant stars. It is also stated that if the findings are confirmed, it will more than triple the number of the known planets outside our own solar system in one full sweep; amazingly 54 of them could support life. Why do I think we may never be able to communicate with aliens The answer lies in the fact that planets that could support life are so far away that a meaningful communication would just not be possible. The NASA discovery is a case in point. According to the scientists, the newly discovered planetary system made up of at least six planets that could support life are orbiting a star 2000 light years away! 2000 light years away? So even if we were to make a rocket that traveled at the speed of light, it will take us 2000 years to reach them. Any message that they give will take another 2000 years to reach us. Can we have a communication where each dialogue takes 4000 years to complete? In 4000 years the entire complexion...
