Scientists Discover 50 Galaxies That Could Contain Advanced Alien Life

Scientists are ceaselessly pressing forward in the search for alien life.

This week, a research team from Pennsylvania State University released the results of a 100,000-galaxy study searching out heat sources far from our own planet with a little help from NASA's WISE telescope.

Heat indicates a galaxy is producing and using large amounts of energy, and that could possibly be the result of an advanced alien civilization.

The Glimpsing Heat from Alien Technologies Survey (G-HAT) revealed thousands of cold galaxies -- with the exception of 50 potentially promising candidates displaying "unusually high levels of mid-infrared radiation."

Although astronomers can't be sure the radiation isn't the result of natural phenomena, they're certainly interested in investigating.

And even the galaxies not emitting any radiation aren't necessarily lifeless, according to researcher Jason T. Wright.

In a press statement, he explained,

These galaxies are billions of years old, which should have been plenty of time for them to have been filled with alien civilizations, if they exist. Either they don't exist, or they don't yet use enough energy for us to recognize them.

The massive research effort, which was the first of its kind to track heat using satellites, is far from over.

The team plans to expand its groundbreaking study to seek out different kinds of energy and, of course, hopes to mount an investigation into those tempting 50 galaxies.

Citations: Could 50 galaxies be hiding advanced alien life? Infrared emissions suggest beings are using stars for energy, study claims (Daily Mail)