Are aliens real? A lot of evidence has come out this year

There's been a lot going on this year. Between the pandemic and the derecho, it's understandable if you missed some big news - including news there might be life outside of Earth.

Here's all the alien news no one paid attention to this year (because, ya know, 2020):

Life on Venus

Most recently, scientists announced that they discovered possible life on Venus, Earth's closest neighbor in the solar system. In the clouds above the planet, a group of astronomers from all over the world found traces of a chemical only created by living beings.

According to the Washington Post, the chemical is called phosphine. Traces of phosphine that appear in Earth's skies are directly linked to human activity, scientists say.

However, that's not a guarantee there's aliens living in the clouds above Venus. To be sure, NASA and other scientists that study space will have to send a spacecraft to explore the planet's atmosphere.

UFOs

And if there's signs of life on Venus, then news about UFO sightings make things a lot more interesting.

A UFO - or unidentified flying objects - is an unknown object in the sky. When people talk about UFOs, they're mostly talking about flying saucers that people believe come from other planets.

Back in May, The New York Times reported that Navy fighter pilots had strange encounters with mysterious flying objects eight times between 2013 and 2019. According to the reports, the fighter pilots and other military officials couldn't explain where the flying objects had come from.

The U.S. Pentagon has a program to investigate these UFOs called the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force, according to The New York Times. Some think these UFOs might not be actually be little green men from outer space, but the program's findings are still a bit of a mystery to reporters and others in the public.

Comments: michaela.ramm@thegazette.com