Question of the week: Is it possible that there are aliens in other galaxies?
My brief answer: If by aliens you mean physical intelligent beings somewhat like ourselves, apparently the answer is no. Astronomers have spent decades searching for galaxies sufficiently like our Milky Way Galaxy that they could be candidates to support advanced life. So far, they have yet to find a candidate.
Astronomers’ search is limited by the fact that they observe galaxies as they were in the past. The more distant the galaxy, the farther back in time astronomers see that galaxy. Also, the more distant the galaxy, the fewer details astronomers can measure in that galaxy. Nevertheless, in observing a galaxy, for example, 8 billion light-years away, and hence seeing it as it was 8 billion years ago, astronomers can predict what that galaxy will be like 8 billion years in the future. Astronomers have yet to find a galaxy whose predicted future characteristics will sufficiently match our own galaxy where it could be a candidate to presently host advanced life. That is, the possibility for the existence of extraterrestrial physical intelligent life is remote. There is a somewhat higher possibility for finding a galaxy where microbes could conceivably exist.
Astronomers also note that it takes a certain minimum time for the universe to mature to a point where advanced physical life is even a possibility. We human beings are existing at that minimum time. That is, while it might be conceivable for a galaxy other than our own to develop the features that would make advanced physical life possible, such developments are only possible in the future, not the present. For a more in-depth and documented explanation for why there is no “galaxy far, far away” and why the Star Wars movies’ scripts need to be rewritten see my books, The Creator and the Cosmos, 4th edition,1Improbable Planet,2 and especially my next book, Designed to the Core (release date 6/22).3 The first two figures show the galaxies that come the closest to matching the features of our Milky Way Galaxy (3rd figure).
Endnotes
Hugh Ross, The Creator and the Cosmos, 4th edition (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2018), https://support.reasons.org/category/format/books/rtb-books/the-creator-and-the-cosmos.
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