Do you constantly feel like you’re being watched? Well, it turns out that extraterrestrial creatures could be watching us from space as we speak.
American scientist James Benford has suggested that space rocks could be the perfect location for aliens to spy on Earth from.
He believes that aliens could be using recently discovered co-orbital objects to observe Earth while not being easily seen.
Space rocks – also known as “lurkers” – circle Earth at the same time as our planet orbits the Sun. Benford states in his paper ‘Looking for Lurkers: Co-orbiters as SETI Observables’ that these co-orbital objects provide ‘an ideal way to watch our world from a secure natural object’.
Because these rocks orbit very close to our planet, the physicist, who received his PhD in Physics from the University of California San Diego, believes astronomers need to investigate the objects immediately.
He said:
A probe located nearby could bide its time while our civilization developed technology that could find it, and, once contacted, could undertake a conversation in real time,
A promising location to search for Lurkers lies among the co-orbital objects, which approach Earth very closely annually at distances much shorter than anything except the moon.
We should move forthrightly toward observing them, both by observing them in the electromagnetic spectrum and planetary radar, as well as visiting them with probes.
This isn’t the first time the idea of setting up probes to monitor Earth has been floated.
In 1960, Stanford radiophysicist Ronald Bracewell proposed that “superior galactic communities” could be monitoring other life forms with interstellar probes.
According to the MailOnline, Bracewell believed that these probes on “co-orbital objects” are perfect for extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) to observe, monitor and maybe even communicate with Earth without being seen.
There are currently fewer than 20 of these co-orbital objects that have ever been found by astronomers.
The closest asteroid to Earth is “2026 HO3”, which has been circling our planet for nearly a century.
In 2016, NASA researcher Paul Chodas explained that the object was caught in a little dance with Earth:
2016 HO3 loops around our planet, but never ventures very far away as we both go around the Sun.
Chodas also proclaimed that the small asteroid was Earth’s ‘constant companion’.
Benford’s theory has been met with scrutiny from some members of the science community.
Physicist and astrobiologist Paul Davies from Arizona State University told Live Science the likelihood of alien probes being discovered on a co-orbital is extremely unlikely.
He said:
But if it costs very little to go take a look, why not? Even if we don’t find E.T., we might find something of interest.
Fingers crossed it’s E.T. He was cool.
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Matt Weston is a lover of electric cars, artificial intelligence and space. From Cornwall, he’s a UCLan graduate that still dreams of being a Formula One driver in the very near future. Previously work includes reporting for regional newspapers and freelance video for the International Business Times.