There Are 36 Alien Civilizations We Can Talk To, Estimate Scientists

There are certainly enough films to watch where us humans try and talk to aliens, or as in E.T., actually manage to meet and greet one!

Now scientists from the University of Nottingham in the U.K. say that we should in fact be able to communicate with over 30 alien civilizations in our Galaxy.

Their findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal. 

SEE ALSO: WE WILL FIND ALIEN LIFE IN THE  NEXT DECADE, NASA SCIENTISTS SAY

Is there anyone out there?

According to the team of scientists, there is someone out there. In fact, there may be 36 alien civilizations able to communicate with us out there to be precise. 

But how did the team at the University of Nottingham come up with that number? 

"Basically, we made the assumption that intelligent life would form on other [Earth-like] planets like it has on Earth, so within a few billion years life would automatically form as a natural part of evolution," the study’s co-author, Christopher Conselice, told the Guardian.

By using Earth, the team narrowed down the factors to planets that resembled our Earth, and that are based within solar systems and suns. This provided the researchers with information to rely on for calculations and numbers that were less speculative.

The team has called it the Astrobiological Copernican Principle, and from it deduced that there are 36 alien civilizations out in Space that would be able to communicate with us. They would have radio communication and space exploration missions, just like us, as they try and send signals out into space. 

The biggest question still remains, though: Why haven't aliens communicated with us, then? Conselice believes that they are simply just too far away — the nearest one would be 17,000 light-years away from us to be exact.  

That means that we'll have to wait another 6,120 years before being able to talk to other life forms in our Galaxy. Let's see what our ancestors' ancestors will find, in that case.