Elinks

DAURADA: 50 minuts. - MIDA: 450 megues.

Since the dawn of civilization, humankind has looked to the stars and wondered what was out there. The heavens were once thought to be the home of supernatural beings that controlled our lives, but when early astronomers realized that our Earth was not the center of the Universe, people began to wonder if the cosmos included other planets like ours. Pop culture during the past century or so made us wonder not only whether intelligent life was out there, but what it would be like. Would they be friendly or would they be a threat? Would they appear like us or would they look like something we could never imagine? And that made us wonder further: what would it be like to make contact? Perhaps inspired by Hollywood's depictions of alien races, scientists who believed life may exist outside our solar system began a systematic search for signs of intelligence. They sent out radio signals that were designed to send a message of who we are, where we come from, and that we want to be friends.

This engaging documentary outlines that effort, from the research of physicists who scour the emptiness of space for in search of prospective planets that may harbor life, to those dedicated scientists who manage a never-ending operation that analyzes radio signal data for that one signal that may be from a civilization located somewhere in the great beyond.

The documentary carefully outlines the criteria needed in the search for intelligent life and examines local planets and their satellites for any prospective candidates. While Jupiter's Europa and Saturn's Enceladus contain the requisite water and ice, it is not believed they possess the right conditions for civilized life to have emerged. Instead, those who search for E.T. began in the 1990s to look toward much farther stars and the planets that orbit them.

So far scientists have identified about two hundred planetary bodies, but none so far qualifies as a so-called "terrestrial planet," an Earth-sized orb with water and atmospheric conditions like our own, conditions thought necessary to foster civilized life. But as the documentary shows, those engaged in the search are confident that within a decade, proper candidates will be found. Even without having identified another Earth out there, these efforts are not necessarily some pie-in-the-sky effort. In 1977 a signal was received from space that astronomers looking for intelligent life believe was sent intentionally. The question now is, where will this lead?