Ancient Aliens Origins S02E07

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00:00:00Of the cosmos, mysterious objects entering our solar system, and mounting evidence, we are not alone.

00:00:12For nearly two decades, ancient aliens has traveled the globe exploring towering megalithic structures,

00:00:20mysterious artifacts, and stories of otherworldly beings in a quest for evidence that might reveal the truth

00:00:28of our extraterrestrial origins.

00:00:32Astronomers have been searching the universe for decades, and personally I think there's a really good chance

00:00:38that soon we'll discover an inhabited planet.

00:00:42Now, we take a look back through the ancient aliens' archives to the show's very origins

00:00:49to examine the evidence that we are not alone.

00:00:54We have never been alone.

00:00:58Since the beginning of humankind, people have been wondering, is there other intelligent life in the cosmos?

00:01:11And of course, to people like the three of us, the answers are resounding yes.

00:01:17And what's even more exciting is that we now live in a time where we might find undeniable proof.

00:01:24Absolutely. I mean, the James Webb Telescope can survey practically the entire universe.

00:01:30And astronomers have detected these mysterious interstellar objects that are moving in ways they're not supposed to.

00:01:36Yeah, right.

00:01:37And scientists have been actively searching for extraterrestrial life since the 1960s.

00:01:42And we talked about this way back in season one of Ancient Aliens in an episode called The Return.

00:01:48Throughout human history, man has gazed up at the stars in awe and with wonder.

00:01:58Our ancient ancestors charted their movements, identified constellations,

00:02:04and marked time by creating celestial-based calendars.

00:02:08The stars also became the source of countless myths and legends.

00:02:16Many of these describe visitors coming down to Earth from somewhere out there.

00:02:23Others speak of entire civilizations existing out in the cosmos.

00:02:28The ancient Sanskrit writings of India tell us, for example,

00:02:34there are 400,000 human-like species scattered throughout the cosmos

00:02:42in different planets, different solar systems, even different dimensions.

00:02:49But where are these alien beings?

00:02:52Did they come to Earth in the past, as the ancient astronaut theory suggests,

00:02:56and then leave?

00:02:59If so, will they ever come back?

00:03:02Today, scientists around the world have stopped waiting around

00:03:07and are taking steps to find intelligent extraterrestrial life.

00:03:12Will technology finally be able to prove

00:03:15what our ancient ancestors believed thousands of years ago?

00:03:19In 1960, astronomer and physicist Frank Drake set up an unusual telescope

00:03:28in the hills of West Virginia.

00:03:32The strange device was made from surplus World War II radar equipment.

00:03:38But rather than containing a traditional optical lens,

00:03:43it housed a directional radio antenna.

00:03:45A few simple calculations showed that radio telescopes have the power

00:03:50to transmit and receive across literally interstellar distances.

00:03:53We're talking many light years.

00:03:55So Frank Drake turned a radio telescope on a couple of nearby stars

00:04:00and tuned in to see if he could pick up a message from the aliens.

00:04:04So this was a sort of crazy thing to do.

00:04:08Drake failed to pick up any sounds that day.

00:04:11But the science of radio astronomy was born.

00:04:15If we couldn't see aliens in space,

00:04:18maybe we could hear them.

00:04:25The things we focused on in the past for searching for extraterrestrial life

00:04:29is really passively trying to discover signals

00:04:31on the basis that if they were technologically advanced,

00:04:34they would have some form of electricity like we do,

00:04:37and all electricity generates radiation.

00:04:39And it sends out the signals and hopefully we detect it.

00:04:42In 1961, Frank Drake and a group of astronomers, physicists, and biologists

00:04:48formed a privately funded organization called SETI,

00:04:52The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

00:04:56Their goal was to focus massive radio telescopes towards space and listen.

00:05:02Drake estimated the probability that intelligent life existed out in the universe

00:05:08in a formula that became known as the Drake Equation.

00:05:13The Drake Equation is like a bridge between scientists and non-scientists

00:05:17because it explains what you would want to know

00:05:20to give a number about how common alien life could be.

00:05:23There are multiple factors within the Drake Equation,

00:05:27like the fraction of stars that have planets,

00:05:29and the fraction of those planets that could be habitable,

00:05:32and the fraction of those that might have liquid water,

00:05:34and how many could have evolved intelligent life.

00:05:37And then one important factor is the lifetime of those civilizations.

00:05:41And that is a big unknown.

00:05:43We only know of one, that's ourselves.

00:05:45And how long are we going to be around?

00:05:48That's to be determined.

00:05:51Using his equation,

00:05:53Drake estimated that over 100 million advanced civilizations

00:05:57could exist in just the Milky Way galaxy.

00:06:02SETI presupposes that if you've got an alien civilization capable of traveling

00:06:07that's developed electronics,

00:06:10they have a fingerprint.

00:06:12That fingerprint is a repetitive signal.

00:06:15A repetitive signal will tell them

00:06:17that it's not just noise, junk frequencies out there,

00:06:21but a real attempt at communicating,

00:06:23maybe not with us,

00:06:25but with each other.

00:06:28But what if SETI intercepts a transmission from another world?

00:06:33What would happen next?

00:06:35According to SETI's post-detection protocols,

00:06:39once an extraterrestrial radio signal is confirmed,

00:06:43news of the event should be kept secret

00:06:44until the authorities have been notified.

00:06:47The government will then decide

00:06:49whether or not to try and make contact.

00:06:53I think all bets are off,

00:06:54because here is this message

00:06:56that could contain enormously important information

00:06:59that would transform our society

00:07:01and maybe destabilize it.

00:07:03What is it going to mean for the future of our civilization?

00:07:05These are momentous questions.

00:07:10Today, SETI continues to scan the vicinities of nearby stars

00:07:14for artificially produced signals

00:07:16using several of the world's largest telescopes.

00:07:20In the next several years,

00:07:22when it becomes fully operational,

00:07:25SETI's new Allen Telescope Array

00:07:27will allow for the reconnaissance

00:07:29of up to a million stars.

00:07:32SETI has to search a huge, huge area.

00:07:34They'll tell you that now

00:07:35they have searched the equivalent of, like, a glass of water

00:07:39compared to the entire ocean on Earth.

00:07:41They have a long way to go.

00:07:42While SETI listens passively to signals from outer space,

00:07:48NASA has attempted to contact alien life directly

00:07:51through messages sent aboard its space probes.

00:07:55It's a long shot,

00:07:56but there's no reason, in my mind,

00:07:59not to expect that life evolved elsewhere.

00:08:00What's harder to predict or try and understand

00:08:06is how likely is it that it happened close enough

00:08:09that there'd be someone we could actually communicate with.

00:08:11In 1972, NASA agreed to attach small plaques

00:08:19onto the outside of its twin Pioneer space probes,

00:08:23the first human-built objects

00:08:25destined to leave our solar system.

00:08:29NASA contacted Cornell University professor

00:08:32Dr. Carl Sagan to craft the message.

00:08:35Carl Sagan was one of the most active astronomers

00:08:37in the search for life outside our planet.

00:08:43He was a very prominent scientist.

00:08:45He was an excellent astronomer,

00:08:46and he really did a lot to help us understand

00:08:49how we might contact other life

00:08:51or detect life elsewhere in the universe.

00:08:55Sagan, along with SETI founder Frank Drake,

00:08:59designed a gold anodized aluminum plaque

00:09:02measuring roughly 6 by 9 inches

00:09:04that contained a collection of symbolic images

00:09:07representing humans and Earth.

00:09:10The man and the woman were nude,

00:09:12and the gentleman was holding one arm up like this

00:09:15in what was intended to be a sign of greeting.

00:09:19A schematic design of the solar system was also shown,

00:09:23with the planned trajectory of the Pioneer spacecraft

00:09:26marked on it.

00:09:27And a diagram of 14 pulsar stars around the sun

00:09:31made a chart that might help someone work out

00:09:34where the craft originated.

00:09:37We tried to give them an idea of where we're located,

00:09:39and that's an interesting problem,

00:09:41is to figure out how you would tell someone

00:09:42where you're located in space,

00:09:44because you don't know where they're going to find it.

00:09:46And it was all in a very stylistic design,

00:09:48but an attempt to hopefully communicate

00:09:50at least some of these ideas.

00:09:51Five years later, in 1977,

00:09:58Dr. Sagan got a second chance

00:10:00at designing an interstellar message

00:10:02when NASA agreed to attach another one

00:10:05to the Voyager space probes.

00:10:07This time, Sagan created a record album

00:10:10made of gold-plated copper,

00:10:13along with a series of basic instructions

00:10:15in how to make it work.

00:10:18Sagan estimated that the metallic disk

00:10:20could survive in space

00:10:21for at least a billion years.

00:10:26At this point,

00:10:27we obviously haven't learned anything yet

00:10:29about extraterrestrial life,

00:10:30because we haven't been contacted back.

00:10:32But I think for our own purposes,

00:10:35any time you try and go

00:10:36and figure out how you want to communicate something,

00:10:39it pushes your boundaries and understanding

00:10:42of communication itself.

00:10:44We all want to find aliens,

00:10:46whether it's the planetary scientists

00:10:48looking for signs of life

00:10:49on another distant planet,

00:10:51whether it's the ancient alien proponents

00:10:54who want to find signs of life

00:10:55of aliens who have visited in the past,

00:10:57and whether it's people today

00:10:58who want to have experiences

00:11:00with UFOs and aliens

00:11:02that have visited them recently.

00:11:04All of us are trying to do the same thing.

00:11:06While the search

00:11:07for extraterrestrial beings continues,

00:11:10a new space-based telescope

00:11:12is hunting for planets

00:11:13that may contain life.

00:11:16Are there other Earths out there?

00:11:19And if so,

00:11:20how will we find them?

00:11:22On March 6, 2009,

00:11:34NASA launched a Delta II rocket into space.

00:11:38On board was a new telescope

00:11:40named in honor of German astronomer

00:11:42Johann Kepler.

00:11:43The space-based telescope

00:11:46was designed specifically

00:11:48to discover the existence

00:11:50of Earth-like planets

00:11:51located outside our own solar system.

00:11:55The Kepler search

00:11:57is focused on a specific section

00:11:59of the Milky Way

00:12:00known as Orion's spur.

00:12:04Kepler's job

00:12:05is to answer the question,

00:12:06how common are other Earths?

00:12:08And to do this,

00:12:11Kepler's looking at one part of the sky

00:12:13for three and a half years.

00:12:15Imagine, like,

00:12:16keeping your eyes open

00:12:17and staring at just one part of the sky.

00:12:22And what they're doing

00:12:23is they're looking at stars,

00:12:25and then as a planet

00:12:26goes around that star,

00:12:27when the planet gets in front of the star,

00:12:29the starlight dims just a little bit

00:12:31from our vantage point

00:12:31because it's being blocked by the planet.

00:12:33And so you look for that dimming

00:12:35of those stars,

00:12:36and then that's how you're able

00:12:37to detect these planets.

00:12:38So far,

00:12:44the Kepler telescope

00:12:45has confirmed the existence

00:12:47of five planets outside

00:12:48our own solar system.

00:12:51NASA officials expect

00:12:52to find several hundred more

00:12:54exoplanets like these

00:12:55before their mission is completed.

00:12:59Once a planet has been located,

00:13:01scientists must then determine

00:13:03if it might contain water.

00:13:05We know from Earth

00:13:10that all life on Earth

00:13:12requires liquid water.

00:13:17So that is the approach

00:13:19that we've been taking

00:13:19for looking for life

00:13:20elsewhere in the universe.

00:13:23Follow the water.

00:13:24And so that is the step one.

00:13:31On Earth,

00:13:32wherever we find liquid water,

00:13:34we find life.

00:13:35And it's true.

00:13:36Life on Earth can exist

00:13:37under an extraordinary range

00:13:39of conditions.

00:13:39extreme organisms

00:13:43that live in the scalding effluent

00:13:46coming out of the Earth's crust

00:13:48deep beneath the ocean.

00:13:50There are other remarkable organisms

00:13:52living in the waste pools

00:13:53of nuclear reactors

00:13:54in extreme radiation environments

00:13:56and so on.

00:13:57But the one thing

00:13:58that seems to be

00:13:59absolutely necessary for life

00:14:01as we know it

00:14:01is liquid water.

00:14:05To determine

00:14:06if a planet contains water

00:14:07and possibly life,

00:14:09scientists use special telescopes

00:14:11to analyze its atmosphere.

00:14:16We look at the light

00:14:17coming from the planet

00:14:18and we split that light up

00:14:19like a rainbow.

00:14:23Now, if you look at a rainbow

00:14:24in the sky

00:14:24and you look really,

00:14:25really carefully,

00:14:26you will see some dark lines.

00:14:28You'll see some colors

00:14:29missing from the rainbow.

00:14:29And those colors are missing

00:14:31because of absorption

00:14:33by gases in Earth's atmosphere.

00:14:35So effectively,

00:14:36we're getting a rainbow

00:14:37from another planet

00:14:38and we're looking for dark lines

00:14:40that tell us

00:14:41what kind of gases

00:14:42are in the atmosphere.

00:14:43To better understand

00:14:45how life affects its atmosphere,

00:14:48NASA scientists

00:14:49study microbial mats

00:14:51at California's

00:14:52Moss Landing Wildlife Area.

00:14:55Microbial mats are important

00:14:56to NASA

00:14:56for a whole bunch of reasons.

00:14:58The organisms

00:14:58that are in microbial mats

00:14:59have been on Earth

00:15:00just about longer

00:15:01than any other kind of organism.

00:15:03They make a number of things

00:15:04which we call biomarkers,

00:15:05which are important

00:15:06in our search for life

00:15:07on other planets.

00:15:08So there are textural biomarkers.

00:15:11So when you pull up

00:15:12a piece of microbial mat

00:15:14and look at the surface,

00:15:15what does that look like?

00:15:17One of the things

00:15:18that we're doing

00:15:18with these microbial mats

00:15:19is we're measuring

00:15:20the fluxes of methane.

00:15:22Methane is a gas

00:15:23that's produced

00:15:23by certain kinds of organisms

00:15:25that use the organic matter

00:15:26that's in these mats.

00:15:28And when that methane

00:15:29goes into our atmosphere,

00:15:30it can be detected

00:15:31by other missions,

00:15:32such as terrestrial planet finder

00:15:33is one of NASA's concept missions

00:15:35for looking for gases

00:15:37that are produced

00:15:37by life on exoplanets.

00:15:41We can look for the signature

00:15:42of oxygen or water

00:15:44on a planet,

00:15:45and at least that would give us

00:15:46an idea of life forms

00:15:47like ourselves,

00:15:49ones that are carbon-based

00:15:50and use oxygen

00:15:51and carbon dioxide cycles.

00:15:53Our atmosphere is not stable

00:15:55without living organisms.

00:15:57It would have evaporated

00:15:58away by now.

00:16:00And so if you're looking

00:16:00out in space

00:16:01and you detect

00:16:02around a star

00:16:03a signature

00:16:04of the chemicals

00:16:06that we know

00:16:07exist for life,

00:16:08that's very strong evidence

00:16:09that life is there.

00:16:11Now, it doesn't help you know

00:16:12if it's intelligent life,

00:16:13but it does give you

00:16:14an evidence for life.

00:16:16With a universe

00:16:17literally full of possibilities,

00:16:20planet hunters

00:16:21focus their search

00:16:23on an area

00:16:23they call

00:16:24a Goldilocks zone.

00:16:26The Goldilocks zone

00:16:28for planets

00:16:28is the place

00:16:29where a planet

00:16:30is not too hot,

00:16:32not too cold,

00:16:33but just the right temperature

00:16:34for life.

00:16:36Right now,

00:16:37we know of no planets

00:16:38like Earth

00:16:38in a Goldilocks zone.

00:16:40One planet comes close.

00:16:42It's called

00:16:43Gliese 581D,

00:16:45but we're not entirely sure

00:16:47if that planet

00:16:47is really in the Goldilocks zone

00:16:48or not.

00:16:51In recent years,

00:16:52it's been recognized

00:16:53that there's more

00:16:54than one Goldilocks zone.

00:16:56For example,

00:16:56there could be life

00:16:57inside icy planetesimals,

00:17:01these are like small planets

00:17:02or large moons.

00:17:04The moon of Jupiter,

00:17:05Europa,

00:17:06is a very good example.

00:17:08Europa is liquid

00:17:09beneath an ice cap.

00:17:11It's liquid underneath

00:17:12because of tidal heating

00:17:14and friction

00:17:14going on inside the planet.

00:17:15So it could be

00:17:17that there is life

00:17:18microbial probably only

00:17:19deep down under the ice

00:17:21on Europa.

00:17:25It's a very challenging question

00:17:27if there's life elsewhere

00:17:29in our solar system.

00:17:31You have so many components

00:17:33that have to come together.

00:17:34We have to have an understanding

00:17:35of the science.

00:17:36We have to ask

00:17:37the right questions.

00:17:38I wish I had a tricorder

00:17:40that I could just go

00:17:41and like point

00:17:42and would say life

00:17:43or no life, right?

00:17:44But we don't have that.

00:17:45So we have to be smart

00:17:47and we have to be clever

00:17:47and we have to develop

00:17:48instruments that can actually

00:17:50address the questions

00:17:51we're trying to answer.

00:17:54It's inevitable.

00:17:55There are so many planets

00:17:56out there.

00:17:57It's inevitable

00:17:57that we'll find one

00:17:58in the Goldilocks zone

00:17:59any day.

00:18:00But while the Kepler telescope

00:18:04has only just begun

00:18:06scanning the horizon,

00:18:08NASA is already planning

00:18:09the next step

00:18:10in its search

00:18:11for extraterrestrial life.

00:18:15People always ask me,

00:18:17do you expect to find

00:18:18an Earth in your lifetime?

00:18:19And I say,

00:18:20yes, absolutely.

00:18:23When I was a student,

00:18:25there was almost nobody

00:18:25prepared to argue that way.

00:18:27The feeling back

00:18:28in the 60s and 70s

00:18:30was that even if there

00:18:31were other Earth-like planets,

00:18:32life is such an improbable

00:18:34freak event that it would

00:18:35never, ever happen

00:18:36anywhere else.

00:18:38Now the prevailing view

00:18:39is, yes, the universe

00:18:41is teeming with life.

00:18:43Everybody wants to meet

00:18:44an alien, but we have

00:18:46to start small.

00:18:47We have to learn how to walk

00:18:48before we can run.

00:18:49The fascinating thing

00:18:51for me is that we're only

00:18:53four and a half billion

00:18:54years old.

00:18:54In a universe that's close

00:18:56to 14 billion years old,

00:18:58what would happen

00:19:00with some of these

00:19:01Earth-like planets

00:19:02that had a five or ten

00:19:04billion year head start

00:19:06on us?

00:19:07Gosh, you can only imagine.

00:19:09As we advance

00:19:10our technology

00:19:11in the search

00:19:12for extraterrestrial life,

00:19:15could we be getting closer

00:19:16to finding definitive proof

00:19:18that we are not alone?

00:19:21As far as ancient

00:19:22astronaut theorists

00:19:23are concerned,

00:19:24we may have already

00:19:25detected concrete evidence

00:19:27of an alien intelligence

00:19:29in the form of

00:19:30strange signals

00:19:31coming from space.

00:19:37You really have to respect

00:19:39mainstream scientists

00:19:40who choose to be part

00:19:41of a group called

00:19:42The Search for

00:19:43Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

00:19:45Yeah, when it comes

00:19:46to looking for advanced

00:19:47alien civilizations

00:19:48in the cosmos,

00:19:50they've been leading

00:19:50the charge for over

00:19:51half a century.

00:19:52Oh, absolutely.

00:19:54And in 2016,

00:19:55I visited one of

00:19:56their largest observatories

00:19:58in Northern California

00:20:00where they have

00:20:01dozens of satellite dishes

00:20:03capturing radio waves

00:20:05from outer space.

00:20:06And what's so exciting

00:20:08is that over the years,

00:20:10SETI has detected

00:20:11some really unusual signals.

00:20:13Delaware, Ohio,

00:20:20August 15, 1977.

00:20:24At Ohio State University's

00:20:26Big Ear Radio Telescope,

00:20:29astronomer Jerry R. Amen

00:20:30conducts research

00:20:32for SETI,

00:20:33the search

00:20:34for extraterrestrial

00:20:35intelligence.

00:20:37While reviewing

00:20:38recorded data,

00:20:40he detects

00:20:41a highly unusual

00:20:42signal originating

00:20:43from the constellation

00:20:45Sagittarius.

00:20:47They're looking

00:20:48for this bandwidth

00:20:50of 1,420 megahertz.

00:20:53Specifically,

00:20:54they believe

00:20:54that this bandwidth

00:20:55corresponds to water

00:20:57and that intelligent

00:20:58civilizations might

00:20:59encode the electromagnetic

00:21:01frequency of water

00:21:02with a detectable signal.

00:21:04So there's Jerry Amen

00:21:05on the Big Ear telescope

00:21:07doing his SETI work

00:21:08and a 72-second burst

00:21:11comes in

00:21:12on the 1,420 megahertz

00:21:14signal.

00:21:1672 seconds

00:21:17of very bizarre

00:21:18static

00:21:19that does not

00:21:20look natural.

00:21:22It looks artificial.

00:21:23It looks like

00:21:24something that was

00:21:25intelligently built

00:21:27and sent.

00:21:28So he writes

00:21:29WOW

00:21:30next to this part

00:21:31of the readout

00:21:32and it is now known

00:21:33as the WOW signal.

00:21:35And still to this day

00:21:37the WOW signal

00:21:38has never been

00:21:39properly explained

00:21:40nor has it

00:21:41been deciphered.

00:21:44While there are

00:21:45various theories

00:21:46as to what may have

00:21:47caused the now

00:21:48famous WOW signal

00:21:49from terrestrial

00:21:51radio broadcasts

00:21:52to comet trails,

00:21:54SETI

00:21:54has not ruled out

00:21:56the possibility

00:21:57that it may represent

00:21:58modern man's

00:21:59first radio contact

00:22:00with extraterrestrials.

00:22:02and they have plans

00:22:05to re-examine

00:22:05the area

00:22:06where it originated

00:22:07in the near future.

00:22:12To get a first-hand look

00:22:14into this continued

00:22:15search for

00:22:15extraterrestrial life,

00:22:18in March of 2016,

00:22:20researcher and publisher

00:22:21Giorgio Tsoukalos

00:22:23traveled to the

00:22:24Allen Telescope Array

00:22:25in Hat Creek, California

00:22:27where he met

00:22:28with the director

00:22:29for SETI research

00:22:30Seth Shostak.

00:22:32This is truly amazing.

00:22:34What can you tell me

00:22:35about this place?

00:22:36Well, this place

00:22:37is an observatory

00:22:38but it's a radio observatory

00:22:40so these things

00:22:41around us,

00:22:41these 42 antennas,

00:22:43they pick up radio waves

00:22:44and we're trying to pick up

00:22:45very special sort

00:22:46of radio waves,

00:22:47namely some that would

00:22:48tell us somebody's

00:22:49out there.

00:22:50By having lots

00:22:50of these dishes here,

00:22:51we can look at

00:22:52more of the sky at once.

00:22:53We can look at

00:22:54multiple star systems

00:22:56at once.

00:22:57Why radio waves?

00:22:59What's so significant

00:23:00about radio waves?

00:23:01Radio waves go

00:23:02at the speed of light

00:23:03and they also,

00:23:04by the way,

00:23:05go through all the gas

00:23:06and dust that's

00:23:06between the stars.

00:23:08So, you know,

00:23:09if you want to communicate

00:23:10from one part of the galaxy

00:23:12to another,

00:23:12radio waves are a great

00:23:13way to do it.

00:23:15So, the way this works

00:23:17is actually kind of simple.

00:23:18I mean,

00:23:18the cosmic radio static,

00:23:20it comes in from the sky

00:23:21and it bounces off

00:23:22that big reflector there,

00:23:23that first one.

00:23:24Okay, that's a mirror

00:23:25for radio waves

00:23:26and that redirects

00:23:28them to this secondary

00:23:29reflector on the end,

00:23:30on the nose there

00:23:31and then they're directed

00:23:33to the receiver

00:23:33and that's inside.

00:23:35That information

00:23:36goes through a fiber optic

00:23:37over to the control room.

00:23:40So, this is where

00:23:41the data coming through

00:23:42the fiber optic

00:23:43kind of ends up

00:23:44after it's been processed

00:23:45in a display like this.

00:23:47And what are we

00:23:47looking at right here?

00:23:49So, we're looking

00:23:49in this case

00:23:50at three star systems

00:23:51at once.

00:23:52Okay,

00:23:52so that speeds up

00:23:53the search.

00:23:54It also allows us

00:23:55to determine

00:23:55whether we're really

00:23:56seeing ET

00:23:57or just interference.

00:23:58The data from one

00:23:59of these star systems

00:24:00is being displayed

00:24:00over on this part

00:24:01of the screen here.

00:24:02This is called

00:24:03a waterfall plot.

00:24:05That, can you see

00:24:05that line of brighter dots there?

00:24:08Yeah, that's slightly

00:24:09more static

00:24:11at that frequency

00:24:12slowly going down the dot.

00:24:13That's the kind of thing

00:24:14we're looking for.

00:24:15So, then,

00:24:15if this here

00:24:16were an actual ET signal,

00:24:18how would it

00:24:19differentiate itself?

00:24:20Would it be a bit thicker,

00:24:21a bit more pronounced,

00:24:22a bit longer,

00:24:23or what are you

00:24:25looking for?

00:24:25It could be

00:24:26all of those things.

00:24:26So, what you do

00:24:27is when you find

00:24:28a signal like this,

00:24:29you make a test.

00:24:29You'll just move

00:24:30the antennas

00:24:31a little bit

00:24:31and see if the signal

00:24:32goes away

00:24:33and then point it

00:24:34back at the star

00:24:34and see if it comes back.

00:24:36You say,

00:24:36well, that's looking

00:24:37promising.

00:24:37You do that again,

00:24:38go off, go on,

00:24:39go off, go on.

00:24:40If you do that

00:24:41five or ten times,

00:24:42you start to get excited.

00:24:43I hope that that day

00:24:44will come very soon.

00:24:47The wow signal

00:24:48continues to intrigue people.

00:24:50So, we are going

00:24:52to use the Allen Telescope Array

00:24:53to re-observe

00:24:54the wow signal,

00:24:55look in the same spot

00:24:56on the sky,

00:24:57look over a wider

00:24:58range of frequencies,

00:24:59and if there's something

00:25:00up there

00:25:00and it's still broadcasting,

00:25:02of course,

00:25:02we would find it.

00:25:04While SETI

00:25:05has yet to find

00:25:06an explanation

00:25:07for the wow signal,

00:25:09NASA's Kepler

00:25:10Telescope Team

00:25:11has continued

00:25:12to search for signs

00:25:13of alien life

00:25:14in other solar systems,

00:25:16despite the U.S.

00:25:18government's open denial

00:25:19of extraterrestrial contact.

00:25:23In September 2015,

00:25:26after more than

00:25:27five years of research,

00:25:29members of the Kepler team

00:25:31revealed some incredible findings

00:25:33coming from the star

00:25:35KIC 846-2852,

00:25:39also known as Tabby's Star,

00:25:42named for the astronomer

00:25:43who discovered it.

00:25:44What we see

00:25:46from Tabby's star

00:25:47is changes

00:25:49in light output

00:25:50that are not

00:25:52attributable

00:25:53to comets,

00:25:55to planets,

00:25:56to asteroids,

00:25:58or to other fragments

00:26:00that would orbit the star.

00:26:02We're seeing

00:26:03quasi-periodic dimmings

00:26:06of the light

00:26:07that can be as much

00:26:08as a 21% reduction

00:26:10in the luminosity

00:26:12that's coming out

00:26:12of the star.

00:26:13Now we have

00:26:14the scientists

00:26:15who are publishing papers

00:26:17in which they propose

00:26:18that one of the explanations

00:26:20for what they're seeing

00:26:21is a massive

00:26:23extraterrestrial construct

00:26:25akin to something

00:26:26known as a Dyson sphere.

00:26:29The Dyson sphere

00:26:30is actually

00:26:30a gigantic structure

00:26:31built around a star

00:26:33which harnesses

00:26:34the energy of the star

00:26:35and could in fact

00:26:36be used

00:26:37to travel

00:26:37from one place

00:26:39to another

00:26:39within the galaxy.

00:26:43This story

00:26:44is a total game changer

00:26:46because it suggests

00:26:47that a type 2 civilization,

00:26:50a civilization

00:26:50that can harness

00:26:51the power

00:26:52of an entire star

00:26:53actually does exist

00:26:55and we can see it

00:26:56with our telescopes.

00:26:59Is it possible

00:27:00that astronomers

00:27:01hunting for habitable planets

00:27:04may have accidentally

00:27:05discovered

00:27:06the first

00:27:06extrasolar civilization?

00:27:08If so,

00:27:10why do government officials

00:27:12remain reluctant

00:27:13to fully acknowledge

00:27:14what the findings

00:27:16might suggest?

00:27:18According to ancient

00:27:20astronaut theorists,

00:27:21NASA's real fear

00:27:22isn't aliens.

00:27:24It's how the public

00:27:25might react.

00:27:27And for further proof,

00:27:29they point to the agency's

00:27:30response

00:27:31to possible signs of life

00:27:33on Mars.

00:27:38You can't talk

00:27:41about the search

00:27:42for intelligent life

00:27:43in the cosmos

00:27:43without discussing

00:27:45our exploration

00:27:46of Mars.

00:27:47It is the most

00:27:47earth-like

00:27:48of all the planets

00:27:49in our solar system.

00:27:50Right,

00:27:51and what's incredible

00:27:51is that we've been

00:27:52photographing Mars

00:27:54since 1965,

00:27:57which is before

00:27:58the moon missions.

00:27:59Yeah,

00:27:59and we even have evidence

00:28:00that NASA may have found

00:28:01microbial light forms

00:28:03on Mars

00:28:03back in the 1970s.

00:28:05We covered this

00:28:06in a 2014 episode

00:28:07called Aliens

00:28:08and the Red Planet.

00:28:11Cape Canaveral,

00:28:13Florida,

00:28:14August 20,

00:28:151975.

00:28:19Admission,

00:28:20we have liftoff.

00:28:22The United States

00:28:23launches a Titan rocket

00:28:25carrying the Viking

00:28:26spacecraft.

00:28:29Viking is embarking

00:28:30on a 420 million

00:28:32mile journey

00:28:33to one of the most

00:28:34prominent sites

00:28:35in the night sky.

00:28:37Mars.

00:28:41If all goes well,

00:28:43in 11 months,

00:28:45the unmanned probe

00:28:46will touch down

00:28:47on the Martian surface

00:28:48and search

00:28:49for evidence of life.

00:28:53Mainstream scientists

00:28:54say Mars

00:28:55is most likely

00:28:56a dead planet

00:28:57because of its

00:28:59incredible temperature swings

00:29:00and high levels

00:29:01and high levels

00:29:01of solar radiation.

00:29:05So why is NASA

00:29:06spending a billion dollars

00:29:08to explore it?

00:29:13The night sky

00:29:14is an astounding thing.

00:29:16To the naked eye,

00:29:17the red planet

00:29:18could be seen

00:29:18with its special colors.

00:29:20After all,

00:29:21it's the biggest thing

00:29:22you see up there

00:29:23past the moon.

00:29:23So it's been

00:29:25a special object

00:29:26of fascination

00:29:27and reverence

00:29:28because religious systems

00:29:30often were associated

00:29:31with the planets

00:29:32and the stars,

00:29:33the sky in general.

00:29:35Speculations about

00:29:36what's there,

00:29:37is intelligent life there

00:29:39or the gods there,

00:29:40that's gone on

00:29:41for a long time.

00:29:42Our dream

00:29:44for life on Mars

00:29:46probably goes back

00:29:47even

00:29:48to the ancient times

00:29:50when we were just doing

00:29:51naked eye observation.

00:29:54It's the planet

00:29:55that really stands out

00:29:56that we now know

00:29:58is very close to Earth

00:30:00in terms of

00:30:01physical conditions.

00:30:02Even though Venus

00:30:03is much more like Earth

00:30:05in size and gravity,

00:30:07it's a hellhole

00:30:08in the solar system.

00:30:12But Mars,

00:30:15Mars is out there

00:30:16within our grasp.

00:30:20Among the first

00:30:22to record this fiery red ball

00:30:24in the night sky

00:30:25were ancient

00:30:26Egyptian astronomers.

00:30:29In 1534 B.C.,

00:30:32they placed Mars

00:30:33on humanity's first chart

00:30:35of the known cosmos,

00:30:37the sentiment star map.

00:30:38Two and a half centuries later,

00:30:43the Egyptians

00:30:44painted the planet Mars

00:30:45on the ceiling

00:30:46of the tomb

00:30:47of Setti I.

00:30:51But while the Egyptians

00:30:53honored Mars,

00:30:54many other ancient cultures

00:30:56feared it

00:30:56because they associated

00:30:58the red planet

00:30:59with death,

00:31:01destruction,

00:31:02and war.

00:31:03according to some

00:31:04anthropologists,

00:31:06this is because

00:31:06the planet glows red

00:31:08like the color of blood

00:31:09spilled on the battlefield.

00:31:15From India to Rome,

00:31:17all of the ancient societies

00:31:18had a reverence for Mars,

00:31:20a great closeness to Mars,

00:31:23very important

00:31:24in their pantheon,

00:31:25very important

00:31:26in the imagination

00:31:27of the people

00:31:28that some kind

00:31:29of connection

00:31:29with that red planet

00:31:31be maintained.

00:31:37But while many

00:31:39ancient societies

00:31:40felt a bond

00:31:41with Mars,

00:31:42most did not identify

00:31:43it as a planet

00:31:44like Earth.

00:31:45The ancients

00:31:46thought planets

00:31:47were as uninhabitable

00:31:49as the sun.

00:31:50They saw them

00:31:51as wandering stars.

00:31:52In fact,

00:31:53the word planet

00:31:53means in Greek

00:31:55wandering star,

00:31:57planeta.

00:31:58You have the fixed stars,

00:31:59the constellations,

00:32:01but then you have

00:32:02these stars wandering

00:32:03about.

00:32:05They seem to follow

00:32:06the sun

00:32:06because they appear

00:32:07to move against

00:32:08the background

00:32:08of the fixed stars

00:32:09the same way

00:32:10the sun does.

00:32:12It wasn't until

00:32:13the 17th and 18th

00:32:15centuries,

00:32:16when astronomers

00:32:17finally had telescopes

00:32:19powerful enough

00:32:20to make out features

00:32:21on the surface of Mars,

00:32:23that we started

00:32:24to imagine life

00:32:25on the red planet

00:32:25as a real possibility.

00:32:27By the 1860s,

00:32:30an Italian astronomer

00:32:31by the name

00:32:32of Angelo Secchi

00:32:33thought he saw

00:32:35straight lines

00:32:36crisscrossing the surface

00:32:37of our little

00:32:38ruddy buddy up there,

00:32:39Mars,

00:32:39and he called them

00:32:40Canali.

00:32:41The idea was picked up

00:32:43by an American astronomer

00:32:44by the name

00:32:44of Percival Lowell,

00:32:46and Percival Lowell

00:32:47built his own observatory

00:32:48down in Flagstaff, Arizona,

00:32:49and he spent a lot

00:32:50of time looking

00:32:50through a telescope

00:32:51at Mars,

00:32:52and he wrote books

00:32:53about this.

00:32:53He was articulate,

00:32:54he was clever,

00:32:55and he convinced

00:32:56a lot of the public

00:32:57and some of the

00:32:58scientific establishment

00:32:59that there really

00:33:00was a civilization

00:33:02on Mars busy

00:33:03digging up their planet

00:33:04because they needed

00:33:05to irrigate their crops.

00:33:10But why has Mars

00:33:12fascinated humankind

00:33:13throughout history?

00:33:15Is it simply due

00:33:17to the planet's proximity

00:33:18to Earth

00:33:18and its striking red color

00:33:20in the night sky?

00:33:21Or is it possible,

00:33:24as ancient astronaut

00:33:25theorists contend,

00:33:27that Mars really was

00:33:29at one time

00:33:30inhabited by intelligent life?

00:33:37The Cydonia region of Mars,

00:33:41July 20th, 1976.

00:33:43An alien spacecraft

00:33:47sent from Earth

00:33:48touches down

00:33:49on the red planet.

00:33:51Nav is green for touchdown.

00:33:53After a 10-month journey,

00:33:55Viking 1

00:33:55has reached its destination.

00:33:57Touchdown, we have

00:33:58touchdown.

00:34:00To NASA scientists,

00:34:02it's a momentous event.

00:34:05For the first time

00:34:06in its history,

00:34:07the United States

00:34:08has a probe

00:34:09on another planet.

00:34:11Viking was the first

00:34:14spacecraft

00:34:14to actually attempt

00:34:16a soft landing

00:34:17on Mars

00:34:18and give us

00:34:21an actual feel,

00:34:22a taste,

00:34:23for what the conditions

00:34:24were on the surface.

00:34:27We looked out

00:34:28at those pictures

00:34:29of the surface,

00:34:30and they looked

00:34:31so much like

00:34:32the Pacific desert here,

00:34:35like Death Valley.

00:34:36We all half expected

00:34:38to see a miner

00:34:39in his burrow

00:34:40come walking up

00:34:41over the nearest rise.

00:34:45Scientists knew

00:34:46that finding

00:34:47definitive signs

00:34:48of life on Mars

00:34:49was a long shot.

00:34:51But when the Viking lander

00:34:53performed four tests

00:34:54on the Martian soil

00:34:55looking for microbial life,

00:34:58it returned surprising

00:34:59and controversial results.

00:35:02Dr. Gill Levin

00:35:04designed one of the tests

00:35:06that the Viking probe

00:35:08performed.

00:35:10Microorganisms breathe

00:35:11just like you or I

00:35:12or anything else,

00:35:14and then they give off

00:35:15carbon dioxide.

00:35:16So we got

00:35:17a tiny sample,

00:35:19a thimble full

00:35:20of the soil

00:35:21put into

00:35:22a little container.

00:35:24It was monitored

00:35:25for seven days

00:35:26continuously

00:35:27to see

00:35:28if there are

00:35:29any bubbles

00:35:29forming in the tube.

00:35:31surprisingly,

00:35:33the test

00:35:34came up

00:35:35positive for life

00:35:37by the criteria

00:35:38that had been

00:35:39approved by NASA.

00:35:43However,

00:35:44the result

00:35:45of another important test,

00:35:47one looking

00:35:47for organic matter

00:35:48on the Martian surface,

00:35:50was negative.

00:35:51But Dr. Levin

00:35:53says the other test

00:35:54wasn't nearly as sensitive

00:35:56as his experiment.

00:35:58It needed

00:35:59three million bacteria

00:36:00in a thimble full

00:36:01of Martian soil

00:36:02to find signs of life,

00:36:04while Dr. Levin's test

00:36:06only required

00:36:0730 bacteria.

00:36:09So there was

00:36:10a vast discrepancy

00:36:12in the sensitivity

00:36:13of the two experiments,

00:36:15and I immediately said,

00:36:16well, you know,

00:36:17they both could be right.

00:36:18We detected life,

00:36:19but maybe there aren't

00:36:20enough bacteria

00:36:21per unit of soil

00:36:23for the organic analysis

00:36:25instrument to find,

00:36:27but NASA

00:36:28was very cautious,

00:36:30and they opted

00:36:31to say,

00:36:32no organic matter,

00:36:35there goes the ball game,

00:36:37no life.

00:36:39Dr. Levin

00:36:40has fought NASA

00:36:42for almost 40 years

00:36:43on whether the Viking probe

00:36:45found evidence

00:36:46of life on Mars.

00:36:48If he was right

00:36:49about the results

00:36:50of his test,

00:36:51this would be

00:36:52the first proof accepted

00:36:53by mainstream science

00:36:55that life exists

00:36:57outside our planet.

00:36:59But ancient astronaut theorists

00:37:01say an even more

00:37:02profound discovery

00:37:04regarding the red planet

00:37:05has been uncovered

00:37:06right here on Earth.

00:37:08Washington, D.C.,

00:37:21August 7, 1996.

00:37:24On the south lawn

00:37:26of the White House,

00:37:2730 years after NASA

00:37:29announced the Viking mission

00:37:30had not found evidence

00:37:31of life on Mars,

00:37:33President Bill Clinton

00:37:35held an historic

00:37:36press conference

00:37:37to announce

00:37:38some momentous news.

00:37:40Microbial life

00:37:41may exist

00:37:42on the red planet

00:37:43after all.

00:37:46Scientists

00:37:47had found

00:37:48what they believed

00:37:48to be fossilized remains

00:37:50on a Martian meteorite

00:37:52that crashed to Earth

00:37:5312,000 years ago.

00:37:58It must be confirmed

00:37:59by other scientists,

00:38:01but clearly,

00:38:03the fact that something

00:38:04of this magnitude

00:38:05is being explored

00:38:06is another vindication

00:38:08of America's space program

00:38:10and our continuing support

00:38:12for it,

00:38:13even in these tough

00:38:14financial times.

00:38:15There was enormous excitement

00:38:17over this discovery.

00:38:20Based on the chemical composition

00:38:22of the meteorite,

00:38:24we could tell

00:38:24that it was from Mars.

00:38:27Inside the rock,

00:38:29researchers found

00:38:30different chemicals

00:38:31and in particular,

00:38:33different physical shapes

00:38:35of objects

00:38:36that looked extremely

00:38:37similar to microorganisms

00:38:40here on Earth.

00:38:44Soon after the president's

00:38:46press conference,

00:38:47scientists began

00:38:49to backpedal

00:38:50on whether the meteorite

00:38:52actually showed signs of life.

00:38:54They said the original team

00:38:56of experts

00:38:57may have been wrong.

00:38:58The image

00:38:59certainly looks

00:39:01like

00:39:01some kind

00:39:03of a microorganism,

00:39:05but the opponents

00:39:06said

00:39:07the microorganism

00:39:08remains

00:39:09are too small

00:39:10to have DNA

00:39:12to be inside it,

00:39:14and therefore,

00:39:15it can't be

00:39:16a fossil.

00:39:19Since then,

00:39:21microorganisms

00:39:22have been found

00:39:23that small

00:39:24which have DNA

00:39:25in them.

00:39:26but it has not

00:39:29been resolved.

00:39:33But given

00:39:34the controversy

00:39:35surrounding the possibility

00:39:36that life may have

00:39:38been discovered

00:39:38on Mars,

00:39:40starting with

00:39:41the Viking mission

00:39:42of the 1970s

00:39:43and continuing

00:39:44to the present day,

00:39:46some scientists

00:39:48say NASA

00:39:49almost seems

00:39:50to be avoiding

00:39:51the issue.

00:39:52The space agency

00:39:55has never retried

00:39:57Gil Levin's test

00:39:58for signs of life

00:40:00on the red planet.

00:40:04It is very puzzling

00:40:06as to why

00:40:08NASA has refused

00:40:10to send life detection

00:40:11experiments

00:40:12back to Mars.

00:40:13My experiment

00:40:16discovered the most

00:40:18remarkable thing

00:40:19yet known

00:40:20about Mars,

00:40:21that there's something

00:40:22highly reactive

00:40:23in the soil,

00:40:25chemical

00:40:25or biological,

00:40:27but we really

00:40:28should find out

00:40:29what it is.

00:40:30It is startling

00:40:31that NASA

00:40:32has made

00:40:33no attempt

00:40:35to determine

00:40:37that issue.

00:40:40I truly think

00:40:42NASA knows

00:40:44there is life

00:40:45on Mars,

00:40:46but for some reason

00:40:47unbeknownst to me,

00:40:49it does not want

00:40:51that information out.

00:40:59Has NASA

00:41:01found definitive signs

00:41:02of life on Mars

00:41:03that they're intentionally

00:41:05keeping from the public?

00:41:07And if so,

00:41:09have they found evidence

00:41:10that an advanced civilization

00:41:12once lived

00:41:13on the red planet?

00:41:15Some ancient astronaut

00:41:16theorists

00:41:17believe they have,

00:41:19and as evidence,

00:41:20point to a report

00:41:21commissioned by NASA

00:41:22in 1960

00:41:23that offers advice

00:41:28for how to reveal

00:41:29the news

00:41:30if the American

00:41:31space program

00:41:32should ever find proof

00:41:33of extraterrestrial life.

00:41:35Roger.

00:41:37The so-called

00:41:38Brookings Report

00:41:39essentially said

00:41:41that in your travels

00:41:43throughout the solar system,

00:41:44there is a distinct

00:41:45possibility

00:41:46that you will discover

00:41:47artifacts,

00:41:48that you will actually

00:41:49discover evidence

00:41:50of an ancient alien

00:41:51presence on Venus,

00:41:53on the moon,

00:41:55or on Mars.

00:41:56And the implications

00:41:58of such an announcement,

00:41:59if it were made,

00:42:01would be potentially

00:42:02devastating

00:42:04to the human race.

00:42:05It could be catastrophic.

00:42:06In fact,

00:42:06it used the word

00:42:07disintegrate.

00:42:10I would imagine

00:42:11that it would be something

00:42:12that would be kept secret

00:42:13for a while.

00:42:16I don't think it's a bunch

00:42:17of men sitting in the room

00:42:19and smoking cigarettes

00:42:20and saying,

00:42:20we're going to keep

00:42:21this secret.

00:42:22But it is a responsibility.

00:42:24And I think that

00:42:25they would certainly

00:42:26be very, very careful

00:42:27as to how to

00:42:28let out this knowledge.

00:42:29Is it possible

00:42:38that not just microbial life,

00:42:41but also intelligent beings

00:42:43once called the red planet

00:42:45their home?

00:42:47And if so,

00:42:48what would that mean

00:42:49for the existence of life

00:42:50elsewhere in the cosmos?

00:42:55If life used to exist

00:42:57on Mars,

00:42:57particularly if it formed

00:42:58independently of Earth

00:42:59life,

00:43:00life in the universe

00:43:03is all over the place.

00:43:07That means

00:43:08that of the billions

00:43:10of planets

00:43:11discovered now,

00:43:14similar to Earth

00:43:15through our universe,

00:43:17many of them

00:43:18would have life on them.

00:43:22And if there is life

00:43:23different from life

00:43:25on Earth

00:43:26that has evolved,

00:43:27there would be

00:43:28every reason

00:43:29to suspect

00:43:30such evolution

00:43:31would have gone on

00:43:32on countless other

00:43:34Earths

00:43:35and that there would be

00:43:36intelligent life

00:43:37out there as well.

00:43:38We want there to be life

00:43:43on Mars.

00:43:44We want there to be life

00:43:45somewhere beyond here.

00:43:47We want that transcendent

00:43:48connection to the heavens.

00:43:50We don't want it

00:43:51to be invaders,

00:43:52but we don't want

00:43:53to be alone

00:43:54in the universe.

00:43:54If signs of microbial life

00:44:01have been found on Mars,

00:44:03is it really far-fetched

00:44:05to consider the possibility

00:44:07of advanced life

00:44:08elsewhere in the cosmos?

00:44:11According to ancient

00:44:13astronaut theorists,

00:44:14evidence might be closer

00:44:15to home

00:44:16than we realize.

00:44:18And they suggest

00:44:19further clues

00:44:20could be uncovered

00:44:21by examining

00:44:22leaked transmissions

00:44:24sent

00:44:24by NASA

00:44:26astronauts.

00:44:31The discoveries

00:44:32we are making on Mars

00:44:34are incredible,

00:44:35but we find

00:44:36equally intriguing discoveries

00:44:38in our own

00:44:39Earth's orbit.

00:44:41We have countless

00:44:42photos and videos

00:44:44from NASA missions

00:44:45showing unidentified

00:44:47flying objects

00:44:48that look like spacecraft.

00:44:51Yeah,

00:44:51and astronauts

00:44:52have claimed

00:44:52that they have seen

00:44:53things that they

00:44:54couldn't explain.

00:44:55And this goes

00:44:56all the way back

00:44:56to the Apollo 11

00:44:57moon mission.

00:44:58Right.

00:44:58Yeah,

00:44:58and it's not just

00:44:59American astronauts,

00:45:00it's Russian cosmonauts, too.

00:45:02So when you have

00:45:02photos, videos,

00:45:04multiple eyewitness accounts,

00:45:06you have to wonder,

00:45:07is there an alien presence

00:45:08right above our planet?

00:45:14NASA Ames Research Center,

00:45:16Moffett Field, California.

00:45:20On December 5th, 2011,

00:45:23astronomers working

00:45:24with the Kepler Space Telescope

00:45:26announced the discovery

00:45:28of a planet they called

00:45:29Kepler-22b,

00:45:32orbiting within what's known

00:45:33as the habitable zone

00:45:34of a distant star.

00:45:37Today's discovery

00:45:38is a tantalizing indication

00:45:40that with time,

00:45:41Kepler may find

00:45:42true Earth analogs.

00:45:44Kepler-22b is about

00:45:47600 light-years away

00:45:48from Earth,

00:45:49so that's a long way.

00:45:50But it is, in fact,

00:45:51in an orbit that means

00:45:53that the daytime temperatures

00:45:54on that planet

00:45:55might be comparable

00:45:56to a summer

00:45:57in San Francisco.

00:45:58So that's the first time

00:46:00we found a planet

00:46:01that might have liquid oceans,

00:46:02maybe a thick atmosphere,

00:46:03maybe even life.

00:46:05What we ultimately

00:46:06like to do first

00:46:07is just understand

00:46:10how other planetary systems

00:46:12are made up.

00:46:13But then we really

00:46:14would like to find

00:46:15Earth-like planets,

00:46:17planets in the habitable zone

00:46:20of sun-like stars.

00:46:23But is it possible

00:46:24that NASA scientists

00:46:26have been searching for life

00:46:28they already know exists?

00:46:30some believe

00:46:33previous voyages

00:46:34into space

00:46:35have uncovered evidence

00:46:37of an extraterrestrial presence.

00:46:44Yes, for Discovery.

00:46:45Howdy, wait, over.

00:46:46Discovery, Houston.

00:46:47Reviewed, log and cleared.

00:46:48Go for main engine start.

00:46:51Engines up and burning.

00:46:52Three, two, one, zero,

00:46:55and liftoff.

00:46:56Roger, roll, Discovery.

00:47:00On September 12, 1991,

00:47:04the space shuttle Discovery,

00:47:06STS-48,

00:47:08flew nearly 350 miles

00:47:10above the surface

00:47:11of the Earth.

00:47:15Its crew,

00:47:16led by Captain John Creighton,

00:47:19performed several missions,

00:47:20including the deployment

00:47:21of an upper atmosphere

00:47:23research satellite.

00:47:25Use code for free drift.

00:47:26Okay, we're in free drift.

00:47:28But while the astronauts

00:47:30occupied themselves

00:47:31with various tasks,

00:47:33a video camera

00:47:34at the rear cargo bay door

00:47:36captured footage

00:47:39that NASA claims

00:47:40no longer exists.

00:47:44But a number of amateurs

00:47:45that were monitoring

00:47:46the transmission

00:47:47produced what they allege

00:47:50is genuine footage

00:47:51from STS-48.

00:47:53The video shows

00:47:57what appears to be

00:47:58a series of unidentified

00:48:00glowing objects

00:48:01and flashing lights

00:48:03that change direction

00:48:06and accelerate rapidly.

00:48:08Apparently, the space shuttle

00:48:14was surrounded by some kind

00:48:16of UFO,

00:48:18a flying saucer type

00:48:19of craft.

00:48:21Some kind of a shield

00:48:23at one point

00:48:24was supposedly put around

00:48:25the shuttle briefly.

00:48:29And then the UFO

00:48:31and everything disappeared.

00:48:32One of the astronauts

00:48:35openly states

00:48:36over an open channel,

00:48:38hey, we're being tracked

00:48:39by an alien spacecraft.

00:48:43And then all of a sudden,

00:48:44all the transmission

00:48:44just ceases.

00:48:46And I think what happened

00:48:46was is that he must have realized

00:48:48he was on the public channel,

00:48:49not the private channel.

00:48:51He probably very, very quickly

00:48:52switched over

00:48:53to the private channel

00:48:53to describe what it was

00:48:55he was seeing.

00:48:55I knew everyone

00:49:01and I heard stories

00:49:02from everyone.

00:49:03Nobody brought me

00:49:04any evidence.

00:49:06So one side of the coin,

00:49:08it's everywhere out there.

00:49:09Has it been here?

00:49:11I have no evidence.

00:49:15NASA officials

00:49:16claim the video images

00:49:18show ice particles

00:49:19glinting in the sun.

00:49:20But is it possible

00:49:26that video transmissions

00:49:28from the space shuttle

00:49:29captured more

00:49:31than what NASA officials

00:49:32want to admit?

00:49:36Occasionally, astronauts,

00:49:39shuttle astronauts,

00:49:40will report

00:49:40that they've seen things

00:49:42or experienced things

00:49:43in space

00:49:44that they can't explain

00:49:45and that might be due

00:49:46to an alien presence.

00:49:47ever since humankind

00:49:51launched itself

00:49:52into space,

00:49:53there have been reports

00:49:55where astronauts

00:49:56described something

00:49:57that they saw

00:49:58while being up

00:49:59in the spaceship.

00:50:01And we have to remind ourselves

00:50:04that those stories

00:50:06are reported

00:50:08by astronauts

00:50:09and not by insane people.

00:50:15In 1996,

00:50:17video captured

00:50:19aboard the space shuttle

00:50:20Columbia STS-80

00:50:22reportedly shows

00:50:25a number of fast-moving objects

00:50:27just outside the craft.

00:50:31These unidentified objects

00:50:34appear as bright streaks.

00:50:37Analysis of their speeds

00:50:39and directions

00:50:40have prompted

00:50:41some researchers

00:50:42to dismiss the claims

00:50:44that the objects

00:50:45were shuttle debris

00:50:46or meteors.

00:50:48There's a space shuttle video

00:50:50of two very specific missions,

00:50:52STS-48 and STS-80,

00:50:54which clearly show

00:50:55what appear to be

00:50:56powered vehicles

00:50:56operating in low-Earth orbit,

00:50:59define all the laws

00:51:00of physics

00:51:01and clearly performing

00:51:02the way UFOs

00:51:03or extraterrestrial spacecraft

00:51:05are supposedly able

00:51:06to perform.

00:51:07But American astronauts

00:51:12are not the only

00:51:14space travelers

00:51:14reporting otherworldly encounters.

00:51:20In 1985,

00:51:22Soviet cosmonauts

00:51:24aboard the Salyut 7

00:51:25reported seeing

00:51:26seven celestial beings

00:51:28orbiting Earth.

00:51:29six cosmonauts

00:51:32claimed that

00:51:34as they looked out

00:51:34of the window

00:51:35of the space station,

00:51:36they saw

00:51:38what they described

00:51:39as winged angels

00:51:42surrounding their ship

00:51:43and that these were

00:51:45luminous beings

00:51:47looking like people

00:51:49but also having

00:51:51bizarrely wings on them

00:51:54and they're in space.

00:51:55So you have to wonder

00:51:56what's going on here

00:51:58and were these angels

00:52:00some kind of extraterrestrials

00:52:03in special spacesuits

00:52:06or fields around them

00:52:07and they were investigating

00:52:10the Soviet space station

00:52:13and then suddenly,

00:52:15bang,

00:52:15they just vanished.

00:52:19If reports from

00:52:20trained scientists

00:52:21are true,

00:52:23is this proof

00:52:24that extraterrestrial intelligence

00:52:26has been trying

00:52:27to contact us?

00:52:32Gordon Cooper

00:52:33approached the United Nations

00:52:35about them actually

00:52:36setting up a bureau

00:52:37at the United Nations

00:52:38for extraterrestrial contact.

00:52:40This is not

00:52:42unknown knowledge.

00:52:44There are people

00:52:44that know

00:52:45and there seems

00:52:46to be perhaps

00:52:47several different species

00:52:48of aliens visiting here

00:52:50and it looks like

00:52:51likely they have been

00:52:53for a long, long time.

00:52:55Might NASA

00:52:56really be withholding

00:52:58classified information

00:52:59regarding the existence

00:53:01of extraterrestrial beings?

00:53:04Could that explain

00:53:05why particular video

00:53:06and communication feeds

00:53:08from space missions

00:53:09have been withheld

00:53:10from the public?

00:53:12And if the unexplained phenomenon

00:53:14astronauts have encountered

00:53:16in orbit

00:53:16point to an alien intelligence,

00:53:19is it a new presence

00:53:21or one

00:53:22that has been

00:53:23observing us

00:53:24from the very beginning?

00:53:30There have been

00:53:31a lot of strange things

00:53:32observed above our planet,

00:53:34but perhaps the most

00:53:35compelling of all

00:53:36is the object

00:53:37they call

00:53:37the Black Knight satellite.

00:53:39Yeah, it's fascinating

00:53:40because whatever

00:53:41this thing is,

00:53:42there have been reports

00:53:43about it for over 50 years.

00:53:45Yeah, and you know

00:53:46there's a possibility

00:53:47that we have a reference

00:53:48of the satellite

00:53:50in an ancient text

00:53:51that's almost

00:53:522,000 years old.

00:53:54We covered this

00:53:55in a 2016 episode

00:53:57called

00:53:57The Mysterious Nine.

00:54:03December, 1998.

00:54:07During the assembly

00:54:09of the International Space Station,

00:54:11U.S. astronauts

00:54:12spot a large,

00:54:14unidentified item

00:54:15orbiting the Earth.

00:54:16They take photographs

00:54:19of the mysterious object

00:54:20and post them

00:54:22on the NASA website.

00:54:25When you actually

00:54:26look at the photographs

00:54:27of the object,

00:54:28it very obviously

00:54:30looks artificial.

00:54:31This is not a meteor.

00:54:33This is not

00:54:34a chunk of rock.

00:54:36This is something

00:54:38that has a dark,

00:54:39streamlined,

00:54:40technological appearance,

00:54:42almost like some

00:54:43of the stealth aircraft

00:54:44that we've built

00:54:44with a kind of bent nose

00:54:46in the front,

00:54:47sort of like a hawk.

00:54:54Curiously,

00:54:55NASA officials

00:54:56quickly removed

00:54:57the photos

00:54:58and claimed the object

00:55:00was space debris,

00:55:01most likely

00:55:02a thermal blanket,

00:55:04inadvertently released

00:55:05from the space station.

00:55:08But some independent researchers

00:55:10are not convinced

00:55:12and suggest

00:55:13that it might be

00:55:14the latest evidence

00:55:15of the Black Knight satellite

00:55:16that first made headlines

00:55:19three years before

00:55:20the first man-made satellite

00:55:22was launched into orbit.

00:55:25In 1954,

00:55:28both the San Francisco Examiner

00:55:30and the Aviation Week Journal

00:55:31published articles

00:55:33detailing what appeared to be

00:55:35artificial satellites

00:55:37orbiting the Earth.

00:55:38It really shocked

00:55:43a lot of people

00:55:43because although

00:55:44the concept

00:55:45of satellites

00:55:46were known,

00:55:47nobody on the planet

00:55:48was flying a satellite.

00:55:50The story really takes off

00:55:52with a man named

00:55:53Major Donald Kehoe.

00:55:55He was formerly

00:55:55with the US military

00:55:56and wrote a number

00:55:58of books on UFOs.

00:56:01One of the things

00:56:02that Kehoe wrote about

00:56:03was how supposedly

00:56:05a number of military insiders

00:56:06had told him

00:56:07that the US military

00:56:08was tracking

00:56:09one or two

00:56:10unknown satellites

00:56:12of extraordinary size

00:56:14in Earth orbit.

00:56:15Nobody knew what they were.

00:56:17This was long before Sputnik,

00:56:18the first satellite

00:56:19launched by the Russians,

00:56:21and it gave rise

00:56:22to the idea

00:56:23that it was extraterrestrial.

00:56:24extraterrestrial.

00:56:29The United States Department

00:56:31of Defense

00:56:31was said to have recruited

00:56:33the assistance

00:56:34of astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh

00:56:36in 1953

00:56:37to identify this strange object.

00:56:41However,

00:56:43his conclusions

00:56:43were never made public.

00:56:46Based on its appearance

00:56:48on radar

00:56:48in the 1960s,

00:56:50scientists estimated

00:56:52that the mystery satellite

00:56:53weighed over 10 tons.

00:56:56It was not only

00:56:57several times larger

00:56:58than anything

00:56:59worldwide space programs

00:57:01were capable of launching,

00:57:03but it also seemed

00:57:04to be traveling

00:57:05in an artificial orbit,

00:57:07circling the Earth

00:57:08from pole to pole.

00:57:10The Black Knight

00:57:16is said to be

00:57:16in a polar orbit,

00:57:17which is what you would do

00:57:18if you wanted to cover

00:57:19the entire planet Earth

00:57:20as it rotated underneath you.

00:57:22Weather satellites,

00:57:24spy satellites,

00:57:25are commonly put

00:57:26into this polar orbit

00:57:26in order to cover

00:57:27the entire surface

00:57:28of the Earth.

00:57:29This implies

00:57:30that it is

00:57:31an unnatural object.

00:57:35What's particularly

00:57:36intriguing about

00:57:37this satellite

00:57:38is it's not

00:57:39one of ours.

00:57:40In other words,

00:57:41the theory is

00:57:42that this is

00:57:42an extraterrestrial satellite

00:57:45that has perhaps

00:57:46been monitoring

00:57:48planet Earth

00:57:48for thousands of years.

00:57:53In the 1930s,

00:57:55ham radio operators

00:57:57claimed they were

00:57:58picking up radio signals

00:58:00from outer space.

00:58:02And Nikola Tesla

00:58:03himself claimed

00:58:05that he was picking up

00:58:06radio signals

00:58:07from Mars.

00:58:08So you have to wonder,

00:58:10were ham radio operators

00:58:12and even Nikola Tesla

00:58:13somehow picking up signals

00:58:15from this extraterrestrial ship

00:58:18orbiting our planet?

00:58:21A ham radio operator

00:58:23was able to decipher

00:58:25this signal

00:58:25and create a matrix grid

00:58:28of individual dots

00:58:29that were either

00:58:30white or black.

00:58:31when he looked

00:58:32when he looked at this grid,

00:58:33he concluded

00:58:34that it was a map

00:58:35of the Epsilon Boots

00:58:36constellation

00:58:37positioned

00:58:38where it would have been

00:58:4013,000 years ago.

00:58:46Might this mysterious object

00:58:48actually have traveled

00:58:49to Earth

00:58:4913,000 years ago?

00:58:52And if so,

00:58:55was it put into orbit

00:58:56by extraterrestrials

00:58:58in order to observe Earth?

00:59:01Ancient astronaut theorists

00:59:03say yes

00:59:04and suggest

00:59:05that descriptions

00:59:06of an extraterrestrial satellite

00:59:08can even be found

00:59:10thousands of years ago

00:59:12in the Hebrew texts

00:59:14known as

00:59:15the Apocalypse of Baruch.

00:59:22The Apocalypse of Baruch

00:59:24is one of the best

00:59:25ancient astronaut stories

00:59:27in existence

00:59:28because it describes

00:59:30an eyewitness account

00:59:32of a satellite

00:59:33orbiting the Earth.

00:59:35Baruch describes

00:59:36how he sees

00:59:38a magnificent bird

00:59:40that watched

00:59:41the happenings

00:59:42on the planet.

00:59:44And from time to time

00:59:46this bird

00:59:46would extend

00:59:48its wings

00:59:49to glean

00:59:51or to gather

00:59:52the power of the sun

00:59:53and after flying around

00:59:55that bird

00:59:56would be so exhausted

00:59:58it would retract

00:59:59its wings.

01:00:01If we look

01:00:02at today's satellites

01:00:03in space

01:00:04it's the same story.

01:00:06We have solar cells

01:00:07on wings

01:00:08that can extend

01:00:09and then they can

01:00:10retract at will.

01:00:12So what if Baruch

01:00:13witnessed

01:00:14something similar?

01:00:17Baruch himself

01:00:18said

01:00:19that this is

01:00:20the guardian

01:00:21of the Earth.

01:00:26Might the mythological bird

01:00:28described

01:00:28in the Apocalypse

01:00:29of Baruch

01:00:30have actually been

01:00:31an observational satellite?

01:00:35Could this be proof

01:00:36that extraterrestrials

01:00:38have been keeping watch

01:00:39over our planet

01:00:40for thousands of years

01:00:42as some ancient

01:00:43astronaut theorists suggest?

01:00:45and if intelligent

01:00:48lifeforms exist

01:00:49beyond Earth

01:00:50why haven't they

01:00:51made themselves known?

01:00:53Perhaps additional

01:00:54clues can be uncovered

01:00:56by exploring why

01:00:57and how

01:00:58they may be deliberately

01:01:00avoiding detection.

01:01:01You know, every year

01:01:06we learn that there are

01:01:07more and more

01:01:08habitable planets

01:01:09out there

01:01:09and it really makes

01:01:11you think

01:01:11that there must be

01:01:12dozens, even hundreds

01:01:14of intelligent species

01:01:15out there.

01:01:16Yeah, and scientists

01:01:17are now on board

01:01:18with the probability

01:01:19of other life

01:01:20in the universe.

01:01:21But you know,

01:01:21it's interesting,

01:01:22it's been suggested

01:01:22that one of the reasons

01:01:23why we haven't

01:01:24detected extraterrestrials

01:01:25is because more

01:01:26advanced races

01:01:27are seeking to

01:01:28evade detection

01:01:29by us.

01:01:30Right, this is

01:01:31the so-called

01:01:32zoo hypothesis

01:01:33and believe it or not

01:01:35it was proposed

01:01:37by an astrophysicist

01:01:38from MIT.

01:01:47If extraterrestrial beings

01:01:49do exist in the universe

01:01:51where are they?

01:01:53That was the question

01:01:55posed by Enrico Fermi

01:01:56one of the leading

01:01:57scientists of the

01:01:5820th century.

01:01:59shortly after the

01:02:05Second World War

01:02:06the famous physicist

01:02:07Enrico Fermi

01:02:08who was taking part

01:02:10in the Manhattan

01:02:11project to build

01:02:11the atomic bomb

01:02:12was talking at

01:02:13Los Alamos

01:02:14with some friends

01:02:15about the reports

01:02:16of flying saucers

01:02:17and Fermi

01:02:18suddenly said

01:02:20in relation to

01:02:22extraterrestrial

01:02:23intelligent beings

01:02:24where are they?

01:02:25and he was simply

01:02:26making the point

01:02:26that if there was

01:02:28a civilization

01:02:29somewhere in the galaxy

01:02:30that had arisen

01:02:31say 100 million years ago

01:02:34then they had plenty

01:02:35of time to spread

01:02:36across the galaxy.

01:02:38Fermi said

01:02:39gee, if there's all

01:02:40of these civilizations

01:02:41out there

01:02:42on all of these planets

01:02:43out there

01:02:44where is everybody?

01:02:45The Fermi paradox

01:02:48as it became known

01:02:50was an attempt

01:02:51to explain

01:02:52the lack of evidence

01:02:53of aliens

01:02:53despite the mathematical

01:02:55probability

01:02:56of their existence

01:02:57but in the 1960s

01:03:01MIT astrophysicist

01:03:03John Ball

01:03:04rebutted Fermi's hypothesis

01:03:06with a controversial

01:03:07one of his own

01:03:08the zoo hypothesis

01:03:10a zoo hypothesis

01:03:12says that

01:03:13we are in a zoo

01:03:15or a wilderness area

01:03:16that they have

01:03:17essentially

01:03:18left alone

01:03:19and are going

01:03:20to leave alone

01:03:21to allow us

01:03:22to develop

01:03:23in our own way

01:03:24in our own rate

01:03:25extraterrestrials

01:03:27have detected us

01:03:28on earth

01:03:29but have chosen

01:03:30not to come here

01:03:32not to invade

01:03:33but rather

01:03:34to observe us

01:03:36as we observe

01:03:37animals in the zoo

01:03:38they've thought

01:03:42we'll do a study

01:03:43of those earthlings

01:03:44and see what sort

01:03:46of people they are

01:03:48now why would they

01:03:49do this?

01:03:50well

01:03:50if on the one hand

01:03:52we have nothing

01:03:53they want

01:03:53that's surely true

01:03:55and on the other hand

01:03:57we aren't able

01:03:58to interfere

01:03:59with whatever

01:04:00they're doing

01:04:00that's also

01:04:01surely true

01:04:02they're out there

01:04:03doing their own thing

01:04:04and they're not

01:04:05paying any attention

01:04:06to us

01:04:07we're not clever enough

01:04:08to eavesdrop

01:04:10on whatever

01:04:10they're doing

01:04:11that's the predicament

01:04:15we're in

01:04:15we have something

01:04:17that is looking down

01:04:18and monitoring us

01:04:19we are on the petri dish

01:04:21and we can't get out

01:04:23far enough to see

01:04:24what's behind

01:04:26those eyes

01:04:27behind that microscope

01:04:28if aliens are

01:04:34watching us right now

01:04:35where are they?

01:04:37some believe

01:04:38they are sitting out

01:04:39in space

01:04:40in what are called

01:04:40Lagrange points

01:04:41named after mathematician

01:04:43and astronomer

01:04:44Joseph Lagrange

01:04:46who discovered them

01:04:47in 1772

01:04:49there are five

01:04:50of these points

01:04:51between the sun

01:04:52the earth

01:04:53and our moon

01:04:54Lagrange points

01:04:56are points

01:04:56between two bodies

01:04:57where the forces

01:04:58balance equally

01:04:58think of like a seesaw

01:05:00when you have one

01:05:01really heavy person

01:05:01and one really light person

01:05:02there's a kind of

01:05:03balance point in there

01:05:04and that's what

01:05:05a Lagrange point is

01:05:06Lagrange points

01:05:08is where

01:05:09we send some

01:05:09of our own satellites

01:05:11and that's a point

01:05:12in space

01:05:12where you can just

01:05:13sort of sit there

01:05:14in earth for millions

01:05:15of years

01:05:15if you had to

01:05:16without having to worry

01:05:18about in-cross corrections

01:05:19if you go anywhere else

01:05:20in the solar system

01:05:22then in order to keep

01:05:23pace with earth

01:05:24as it orbits the sun

01:05:25you've got to continually

01:05:26change your position

01:05:28so people have talked

01:05:30about Lagrange points

01:05:31as a place where

01:05:32a spacecraft might hide out

01:05:33because you don't have

01:05:35to do a lot

01:05:35to stay in that spot

01:05:36it's sort of equally

01:05:37balanced

01:05:37and you just get carried along

01:05:38if an extraterrestrial race

01:05:43would have ever

01:05:44visited our solar system

01:05:45they could have placed

01:05:47a probe

01:05:47in those specific points

01:05:49in order to observe us

01:05:51to record us

01:05:52what have you

01:05:53so I mean

01:05:54this is not something

01:05:55that the ancient astronaut

01:05:57theory has proposed

01:05:58this is you know

01:06:00university professors

01:06:02astrophysicists

01:06:03who have proposed this

01:06:05some argue that another reason

01:06:10alien beings have yet

01:06:11to reveal themselves

01:06:12is because they don't yet

01:06:14consider us worthy

01:06:15this forms the basis

01:06:17of John Ball's

01:06:18jungle hypothesis

01:06:20the jungle hypothesis

01:06:22just means that

01:06:24if you have animals

01:06:26such as ants

01:06:28that live in the jungle

01:06:29no matter how many of them

01:06:30you have

01:06:31their chances of ever

01:06:32having seen a human being

01:06:34are very slim

01:06:35not because we're hiding

01:06:37or anything

01:06:38but we just don't have a reason

01:06:39to go into the jungle

01:06:40and step on ant hills

01:06:41so the idea is that

01:06:44we are probably related

01:06:46to advanced

01:06:47extraterrestrial intelligence

01:06:49similar to an ant hill

01:06:51might be related to humans

01:06:52and the fact that

01:06:54we've never seen

01:06:55any extraterrestrial intelligence

01:06:57is just

01:06:57we don't have anything

01:06:59they want

01:06:59we could actually

01:07:02shake hands

01:07:03with something that

01:07:04might have been coming

01:07:05and going on this planet

01:07:06for literally

01:07:08thousands

01:07:09perhaps millions

01:07:09of years

01:07:10and has kept a distance

01:07:12during the last age

01:07:14of man

01:07:15for reasons unknown

01:07:17and maybe is waiting

01:07:19for us all

01:07:20to finally grow up

01:07:22one thing that can be said

01:07:25with a great deal

01:07:26of confidence

01:07:27is that

01:07:29if the contact

01:07:31is initiated by them

01:07:33they are going to be

01:07:35not only superior to us

01:07:37but greatly superior

01:07:39they won't be just beginners

01:07:43like we are

01:07:45they will be far more advanced

01:07:48than we are

01:07:49both the jungle

01:07:58and zoo hypothesis

01:07:59propose that alien beings

01:08:02are watching us

01:08:03but are

01:08:04for the time being

01:08:05keeping their distance

01:08:06but what if

01:08:09they're not

01:08:09what if

01:08:11just as our search

01:08:12takes us deeper

01:08:13into the cosmos

01:08:14interstellar visitors

01:08:16are quietly making their way

01:08:18into our solar system

01:08:20astronomers have been searching

01:08:27the universe for decades

01:08:28and personally I think

01:08:30there's a really good chance

01:08:32that soon we'll discover

01:08:33an inhabited planet

01:08:35because of all the new discoveries

01:08:37we're making in outer space

01:08:39like interstellar objects

01:08:41for years

01:08:42we were told it was impossible

01:08:44for an asteroid

01:08:45from another part of our universe

01:08:46to enter our solar system

01:08:48but now astronomers have detected

01:08:50three of these interstellar travelers

01:08:52beginning with the Muamua

01:08:53in 2017

01:08:54yeah and scientists say

01:08:56that a Muamua

01:08:57is coming from the Pleiades star cluster

01:08:59and there are so many

01:09:01ancient stories

01:09:02of beings from the Pleiades

01:09:04coming to Earth

01:09:05that we dedicated

01:09:06an entire episode

01:09:07to this in 2020

01:09:09called

01:09:09They Came from the Pleiades

01:09:11Maui, Hawaii

01:09:14October 19, 2017

01:09:18scientists

01:09:20at the University of Hawaii

01:09:22Haleakala Observatory

01:09:24detect a strange object

01:09:26traveling through our solar system

01:09:28they initially catalog it

01:09:30as an asteroid

01:09:31but after further examination

01:09:33researchers observe

01:09:35that the object

01:09:36accelerated as it approached the sun

01:09:38acting more like a comet

01:09:40but without any other

01:09:41comet-like characteristics

01:09:43the find

01:09:45forces astronomers

01:09:46to reclassify it

01:09:47as something entirely new

01:09:49an interstellar object

01:09:51we'd never seen anything

01:09:53like this in the solar system before

01:09:55we get an estimate

01:09:56of its size

01:09:57at about 800 meters

01:09:59or half a kilometer

01:10:01in length

01:10:01roughly a cigar-like shape

01:10:04it was moving very fast

01:10:06a little more than

01:10:08195,000 miles per hour

01:10:10you get a chill sometimes

01:10:12when you understand

01:10:13something is very important

01:10:15or it's really exciting

01:10:16and that's what I felt

01:10:17with this object

01:10:18our Milky Way galaxy

01:10:21is estimated to consist

01:10:23of 100,000 million stars

01:10:25each indicating the presence

01:10:28of a solar system

01:10:29because the distances

01:10:31between them are so vast

01:10:33astronomers believed

01:10:35it was impossible

01:10:36for an object

01:10:37from another solar system

01:10:38to reach our own

01:10:39until now

01:10:41it just came from

01:10:44outside our solar system

01:10:46meaning it wasn't material

01:10:47from our star

01:10:49being created

01:10:50it's from a different star

01:10:52system

01:10:53somewhere else

01:10:54that's historic

01:10:56that we've actually seen it

01:10:57we now know objects

01:10:58can travel

01:10:59from one star system

01:11:01to another

01:11:02researchers dub

01:11:04the interstellar visitor

01:11:05Oumuamua

01:11:06a Hawaiian term

01:11:08meaning a messenger

01:11:09from afar

01:11:10arriving first

01:11:11is it possible

01:11:12that the interstellar visitor

01:11:14was in fact

01:11:15a messenger

01:11:16one sent on a mission

01:11:18to our solar system

01:11:20different scientists

01:11:23have analyzed the data

01:11:25and deduced that

01:11:26it's something very different

01:11:28to an asteroid or a comet

01:11:29so the scientific data

01:11:31does point to it actually

01:11:32being some artificial creation

01:11:35we've had open speculation

01:11:40about how this thing

01:11:42might be an interstellar

01:11:43spacecraft

01:11:44talk from a Harvard professor

01:11:47the chair of Harvard's

01:11:49astronomy department

01:11:50Dr. Avi Loeb

01:11:52noted that the object

01:11:53seemed to follow

01:11:54the propulsion patterns

01:11:55of a new technology

01:11:57that is currently being tested

01:11:58for future space missions

01:12:00known as solar sail propulsion

01:12:03large reflective sails

01:12:05capture sunlight

01:12:06to propel a craft

01:12:08through the vacuum of space

01:12:09you can design

01:12:11essentially photon sails

01:12:12so the idea has been

01:12:14to make a material

01:12:15that reflects photons

01:12:17which is light

01:12:18very efficiently

01:12:19you deploy this

01:12:20and you basically

01:12:21accelerate under starlight

01:12:22and then you just cruise

01:12:24was similar alien technology

01:12:27used to propel

01:12:28Oumuamua

01:12:29it makes you wonder

01:12:34was that a targeted mission

01:12:37some sort of probe

01:12:39that has been sent in

01:12:40to look for life

01:12:41before man actually

01:12:44went to the moon

01:12:45and walked on it

01:12:45we sent a lot of probes

01:12:47around the moon

01:12:47to look at it

01:12:48and it's quite likely

01:12:50that some version of NASA

01:12:52from some other star system

01:12:54could send a probe

01:12:55here to earth

01:12:56the trajectory of the interstellar object

01:13:02took it past the sun

01:13:03where it made it turn

01:13:05and then ran parallel

01:13:06to earth's orbit

01:13:07it traveled between our planet

01:13:09and Mars

01:13:10before it began its journey

01:13:12out of our solar system

01:13:13when Oumuamua arrived

01:13:15nobody knew where it came from

01:13:17then in 2018

01:13:19an astronomer

01:13:20at the University of Hertfordshire

01:13:21retraced its movements

01:13:23and discovered

01:13:24that it came from

01:13:25the Pleiades

01:13:26we have to ask

01:13:29is it possible

01:13:30that it was actually sent

01:13:31from the Pleiades

01:13:32for ancient astronaut theorists

01:13:35the revelation

01:13:36that Oumuamua

01:13:37traveled to our solar system

01:13:39from the area

01:13:40of the Pleiades star cluster

01:13:41is highly intriguing

01:13:42the Pleiades

01:13:44figures into the creation stories

01:13:46of many ancient cultures

01:13:47from all around the world

01:13:49where it was taught

01:13:50that divine beings

01:13:52came from these stars

01:13:53to seed life on earth

01:13:55if we look at the mythologies

01:13:57of the Pleiades

01:13:58around the world

01:13:59there's some indication

01:14:01that this star cluster

01:14:02is in some way

01:14:03related to

01:14:04a visitation

01:14:05in ancient times

01:14:06located over

01:14:08400 light years

01:14:09from earth

01:14:10near the constellation

01:14:11of Taurus

01:14:12the Pleiades

01:14:13is commonly recognized

01:14:14as seven bright stars

01:14:16but actually consists

01:14:18of thousands

01:14:20the Pleiades

01:14:23everybody's heard

01:14:24of the Pleiades

01:14:24they're also known

01:14:25as the seven sisters

01:14:26because if you have

01:14:27really good eyesight

01:14:28you can see seven stars

01:14:29in a very compact

01:14:30configuration

01:14:32in the winter sky

01:14:33and in fact

01:14:35there are a lot more stars

01:14:36than seven

01:14:37there are actually

01:14:373,000 stars

01:14:39in the Pleiades

01:14:40so the Pleiades

01:14:44is a star cluster

01:14:45they're not separated

01:14:47by huge distances

01:14:48but they occur

01:14:49in a small area

01:14:51that's different

01:14:52from a constellation

01:14:53where the stars

01:14:54could be moving

01:14:55in all sorts of directions

01:14:56and are separated

01:14:57by huge distances

01:14:59the importance

01:15:02of this massive star cluster

01:15:04to ancient peoples

01:15:05is revealed

01:15:06not only by

01:15:07their creation stories

01:15:08but also

01:15:10in how they oriented

01:15:11their most important structures

01:15:13all around the world

01:15:15all around the world

01:15:15we find ancient structures

01:15:17that have alignments

01:15:18that infer a relationship

01:15:20to the Pleiades

01:15:20now these can be found

01:15:22at places like

01:15:23Chaco Canyon

01:15:23in Mesoamerica

01:15:25in various parts

01:15:27of the world

01:15:28it's clear

01:15:29that the ancient people

01:15:30wanted to incorporate

01:15:32the rising of the Pleiades

01:15:33in some way

01:15:34with the building

01:15:35of these mega structures

01:15:36additionally

01:15:39ancient artwork

01:15:40and artifacts

01:15:41pay homage

01:15:42to these same stars

01:15:43with one depiction

01:15:45dating back

01:15:45an incredible

01:15:4618,000 years

01:15:48perhaps the earliest

01:15:50reference

01:15:51to the Pleiades

01:15:52is in the Lascaux

01:15:53caves in France

01:15:54but these go back

01:15:56thousands of years

01:15:57into antiquity

01:15:59even before

01:16:00the written language

01:16:01the Pleiades constellation

01:16:03shows up

01:16:04in various artifacts

01:16:05one of them even being

01:16:07a Sumerian tablet relief

01:16:08that shows

01:16:09what appears to be

01:16:10some type of a god

01:16:11coming out of

01:16:12the Pleiades constellation

01:16:13an interesting artifact

01:16:15coming out of the 1600s

01:16:16is the Neber Sky disk

01:16:17depicting the constellation

01:16:19of Pleiades

01:16:20worldwide

01:16:22we find hundreds

01:16:24of references

01:16:25having to do

01:16:27with the Pleiades

01:16:28not just on one continent

01:16:30not just in one culture

01:16:32but in multiple continents

01:16:34in multiple cultures

01:16:35worldwide

01:16:36that to me

01:16:37indicates

01:16:38that something

01:16:39happened here on earth

01:16:41having to do

01:16:42with someone

01:16:43visiting

01:16:44from the Pleiades

01:16:45the seven stars

01:16:48making up

01:16:49the star cluster

01:16:50of the Pleiades

01:16:51are very often

01:16:53represented

01:16:54as human figures

01:16:55in Greek mythology

01:16:57they are

01:16:59seven sisters

01:17:00and in India

01:17:02they are associated

01:17:04with the seven rishi

01:17:05these are wise benefactors

01:17:09to humanity

01:17:10from some kind of

01:17:12astronomical place

01:17:14in the sky

01:17:15we have to wonder

01:17:18why are the Pleiades

01:17:20being so specifically

01:17:22picked out of the night sky

01:17:24is it possible

01:17:26that the Pleiades

01:17:26are the place

01:17:28where our sky gods

01:17:29have come from

01:17:30with thousands of stars

01:17:34in the Pleiades

01:17:35could it be a place

01:17:37that contains

01:17:38an earth-like planet

01:17:39one that could have

01:17:41been the home planet

01:17:42for our

01:17:42extraterrestrial ancestors

01:17:44the Kepler space telescope

01:17:46has found evidence

01:17:48of planets

01:17:49in the Pleiades

01:17:49so Kepler works

01:17:51by finding dips of light

01:17:53as a planet

01:17:54passes in front

01:17:55of the star

01:17:56that it's orbiting

01:17:56relative to the earth

01:17:57astronomers were able

01:17:59to see that there is

01:18:00some dimming

01:18:01of stars

01:18:02in the Pleiades

01:18:02which is likely

01:18:04caused by planets

01:18:05are we entering

01:18:08a new era

01:18:08of alien visitation

01:18:10one where we will see

01:18:12the return

01:18:12of the Pleiadians

01:18:14and other

01:18:15extraterrestrial races

01:18:16perhaps further evidence

01:18:18can be found

01:18:19by examining

01:18:20a second interstellar object

01:18:22that recently entered

01:18:23our solar system

01:18:25Crimea

01:18:32August 30th

01:18:342019

01:18:35at the Margo observatory

01:18:40amateur astronomer

01:18:42Gennady Borisov

01:18:43detects a strange object

01:18:45traveling through the sky

01:18:46it is dubbed

01:18:48the Borisov comet

01:18:49and becomes

01:18:50the second interstellar object

01:18:52ever discovered

01:18:53in our solar system

01:18:54nearly two years

01:18:56after Oumuamua

01:18:57traveled from

01:18:58the Pleiades star cluster

01:18:59the Borisov comet

01:19:02is the second known

01:19:03object we found

01:19:04that has interstellar origins

01:19:06it was traveling

01:19:07way too fast

01:19:08to have come

01:19:09from our own

01:19:10outer solar system

01:19:10which means

01:19:11it has to have come

01:19:12from another solar system

01:19:13whether we're just

01:19:16getting better

01:19:16at detecting these objects

01:19:18or whether we're seeing

01:19:19this new kind of thing

01:19:21swinging by our sun

01:19:22it's a really exciting time

01:19:23to be looking for things

01:19:25that are coming

01:19:25from outside our solar system

01:19:27this is kind of alarming

01:19:30to some astronomers

01:19:31because we wonder

01:19:32are these cosmic messengers

01:19:34coming here

01:19:34bringing us warnings

01:19:35are they signaling something

01:19:37is this just the start

01:19:39of more interstellar objects

01:19:41entering into our solar system

01:19:42and if so

01:19:44how many more of these objects

01:19:46are we going to start seeing

01:19:47in 2017 a paper was published

01:19:51trying to estimate the number

01:19:53of interstellar objects

01:19:54that we might have

01:19:55one estimate suggests

01:19:58that at any one moment

01:19:59we might have

01:20:00one Oumuamua-like object

01:20:02inside the orbit of earth

01:20:04at any time

01:20:05that shows us new possibilities

01:20:07of what's out there

01:20:08we've had a piece of something

01:20:10from another solar system

01:20:11delivered to us

01:20:12I think this is inching us closer

01:20:14to the discovery of life elsewhere

01:20:17my personal belief is

01:20:18there is life out there

01:20:20now

01:20:22after the historic discovery

01:20:24of two interstellar objects

01:20:25that were delivered

01:20:26to our solar system

01:20:27could a new age

01:20:29be upon us

01:20:30one that will soon see

01:20:32the arrival of intelligent beings

01:20:33from another world

01:20:35if Oumuamua is an interstellar probe

01:20:39we know now

01:20:40that it comes from the Pleiades

01:20:41is the Borisov object

01:20:43also some form of

01:20:44intelligently directed

01:20:45interstellar object

01:20:47and are there other species

01:20:48out there

01:20:49that are also sending probes

01:20:50that we soon will discover

01:20:52in the earliest of oral traditions

01:20:57and the earliest of texts

01:20:59everybody's waiting

01:21:01for someone to return

01:21:02I hope that we will make

01:21:05official contact

01:21:06within our lifetime

01:21:07meaning in the next 50

01:21:09or so years

01:21:10I've always said that

01:21:12the big secret will be

01:21:14when the hatch opens

01:21:15and they walk down the ramp

01:21:16that we'll look at each other

01:21:17in the mirror

01:21:18because they will look like

01:21:19you and me

01:21:20throughout human history

01:21:22we have looked to the stars

01:21:24to guide our ships

01:21:25to align our most sacred monuments

01:21:28and to search for our place

01:21:31in the universe

01:21:32but could we have

01:21:34a far more profound connection

01:21:36with these distant suns

01:21:38and if so

01:21:39are we on the verge

01:21:41of recovering

01:21:42this lost knowledge

01:21:44perhaps now

01:21:46that we are able

01:21:47to detect the visitors

01:21:48coming to our solar system

01:21:49from the far reaches of space

01:21:51we will soon discover

01:21:53the undeniable proof

01:21:55that we are not alone

01:21:57we have never been alone

01:22:00I'm just blown away

01:22:07by the profound new evidence

01:22:09from the web telescope

01:22:10from SETI

01:22:11interstellar objects

01:22:12we're right on the cusp

01:22:14of something truly amazing

01:22:16yeah I mean we've had so many

01:22:18interesting discoveries

01:22:19over the last say 20 years

01:22:21that it's amazing

01:22:23I mean scientists are really proving

01:22:25that there's life out there

01:22:27in the universe

01:22:28right and when you consider

01:22:30that universities like Harvard

01:22:32are joining the discussion

01:22:33that is something that 30-40 years ago

01:22:36would have been you know

01:22:36wishful thinking

01:22:38but now it is happening

01:22:39you know it's baked

01:22:42inside of us

01:22:43into our DNA

01:22:44that we are not alone

01:22:45and hey

01:22:46we are from out there

01:22:48we are from out there

01:22:49we are from out there

01:22:50we are from out there

01:22:51we are from out there

01:22:52we are from out there

01:22:53we are from out there

01:22:54we are from out there

01:22:55we are from out there

01:22:56we are from out there

01:22:57we are from out there

01:22:58we are from out there

01:22:59we are from out there

01:23:00we are from out there

01:23:01we are from out there

01:23:02we are from out there

01:23:03we are from out there

01:23:04we are from out there

01:23:05we are from out there

01:23:06we are from out there

01:23:07we are from out there

01:23:08we are from out there

01:23:09we are from out there

01:23:10we are from out there

01:23:11we are from out there

01:23:12we are from out there

01:23:13we are from out there

01:23:14we are from out there

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