A number of astronomers have invested their energies into finding the existence of extraterrestrial life alongside finding another home for humans.
So far, there have been thousands of exoplanets discovered — lurking outside our solar system with experts hoping that there may be life in some of them.
Similarly, scientists in Japan are waiting for a reply signal from aliens which they had sent forty years ago and they believe are near to receiving a response.
However, there are fewer chances as a message from the earth was sent to a star Altair with only an hour window to hear the message.
40 years ago, Japanese astronomers Masaki Morimoto and Hisashi Hirabayashi sent a message into the cosmos — about what humans are — using a telescope at Stanford University and sent a message to Altair, — 16.7 light years away — hoping that there could be life.
A team led by Shinya Narusawa at the University of Hyogo used a large Japanese telescope to try and see if there was any reply.
According to the researchers, it is conceivable a reply would come around now, given the distance to the star and the time that has elapsed.
Narusawa believed that aliens are out there and that the message could have really been sent towards alien life around the distant star.
Narusawa told Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun: “A large number of exoplanets have been detected since the 1990s. Altair may have a planet whose environment can sustain life.”
Despite efforts, those involved may not be disappointed because of the seriousness of contacting the aliens.
Gizmodo had reported that in 2008, when the email was unearthed, Hirabayashi admitted that the pair had been drunk when they came up with the idea of sending the message.
“I believe in aliens, but they are very difficult to find,” he had said then.
He had received an array of messages from schoolchildren about the message, which had made sending it worth it, he was quoted.
