Astronomers Really Thought These Discoveries Could Be Aliens

As the notable X - Filesposterdeclares , “ I desire to believe . ” This wanting , however , often lead us astray . When confronted with disgraceful and incomprehensible celestial phenomenon , we lean to see intelligent design . This jumping to ratiocination is a sinfulness for which we can be forgive — we have an insatiable motivation to be intimate if someone ’s out there . When we say , “ I desire to think , ” what we ’re in reality saying is , “ I hope we ’re not alone . ”

From the moment the first members of our mintage took the time to face up and ponder cosmos , we ’ve been misinterpreting the star . Someone once told me that ancient peoples probably mistook the midget twinkling pane above for distant campfires , in what was in all probability the first example of humans “ seeing ” aliens that are n’t actually there . We ’re still doing this , as these historical examples demonstrate .

This story was originally published on December 16 , 2020 .

Artist’s depiction of Boyajian’s Star surrounded by a swarm of dusty comets.