Milky Way Galaxy Has 40 Billion Potentially Habitable Planets and Around 30,000 Alien Civilisations

There are 3000 alien civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy, but the chances of finding them are very low, according to a Dutch Astronomer.

Astronomer Michael Garrett of Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (Astron) commented during the International Astronomical Congress held in Toronto that Earth is one of the 40 billion habitable planets in the galaxy based on the data collected by NASA and other space agencies.

According to the study, there may be another habitable planet forming every year, making the possibility of the existence of alien civilisations higher and there may be approximately 3,000 alien civilisations already in the galaxy.

However, Garrett noted that civilisation advanced enough to received signals send out from Earth is very unlikely at the moment.

Garrett explained that civilisations could be at least 1,000 light-years away from each other in the Milky Way and the large distance would mean that twice the travel distance is needed for communication purposes. In this connection, Garrett further said that the opportunity to talk to other civilisations would need civilisations that have been around for at least a few thousand years.

He said that life on Earth started with a simple life forms which had been existed for billion years before the intelligent life arrived. He pointed out that Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence ( SETI) signals are rare in the Milky Way galaxy considering the scientific theory that intelligent life only developed on Earth in the last few minutes of the entire evolution of life.

While Garrett is negative about the possibility of communicating aliens in the near future, scientists at SETI are more positive.

SETI astronomer Seth Shostak said in March that he expects alien contacts to happen within the next 20 years with the advances of technology.

He explained that while the research is still in its infant stage with limited equipment and money, he believes the humanity is not far off. He expects that mankind will make contact with aliens within the next two decades, based on the fact that digital electronics and computers are getting cheaper and better, which would make scanning through the cosmos faster.