Scientists claim to have found evidence of ALIEN LIFE: Balloon sent to edge of atmosphere picks up organisms ‘that can only have come from space’



Scientists found algae after sending a balloon into the stratosphere

Claim the algae could only have come from space or a volcanic eruption

This could provide evidence that the 'seeds of life' exist all over the Universe and travel from one planet to another via meteors



British scientists believe they have found evidence alien life after sending a balloon to the edge of space.

The team of scientists sent a balloon 27km into the stratosphere and captured small biological organisms they say can only have come from space.



The group, headed up by astrobiologist Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, claims the 'seeds of life' have been transported between planets by passing meteors.

Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe believes 67P and other comets like it could provide homes for living microbes similar to the 'extremophiles' that inhabit the most inhospitable regions of the Earth

Professor Wickramasinghe, 74, and his team from the University of Sheffield sent a specially designed balloon into the atmosphere above Chester during the annual Perseid meteor shower.

The balloon was carrying sterile microscope slides which were only exposed to the atmosphere at heights of 27km.



When the balloon fell back down to Earth the scientists discovered microscopic aquatic algae on the microscope slides - which they say can only be alien life forms.

Professor Wickramasinghe, 74, and his team from the University of Sheffield sent a specially designed balloon into the atmoshphere during the annual Perseid meteor shower last month in August

Their findings were published in a paper during the Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology conference in San Diego, USA, last month.



Prof Wickramasinghe said: 'Biological entities of this nature have not previously been reported occurring in the stratosphere.

'The entities varied from a presumptive colony of ultra-small bacteria to two unusual individual organisms - part of a diatom frustule and a 200 micron-sized particle mass interlaced with biofilm and biological filaments.'

He said these findings were evidence for the theory of 'cometary panspermia'.



This states that the 'seeds of life' exist all over the Universe and travel through space from one planet to another.

The left image shows an unidentified 'alien' biological complex organism with a segmented neck connected to a flask-shaped body. On the right collapsed 'alien' organism with a 'proboscis'- or head of the animal- with 2 nostril-like openings and a 'sphincter'-like opening at the top



When the balloon fell back down to Earth the scientists discovered microscopic aquatic algae on the microscope slides - which they say can only be alien life forms. An internal microscopic image of an alien mass of bacteria found is pictured above

METEOR FOUND TO CONTAIN INGREDIENTS FOR LIFE

In a separate study, scientists have recently found never before seen material inside rock that crashed to Earth in California last year. The discovery comes from an analysis of the Sutter's Mill meteorite, which lit up the California night sky with a dazzling fireball in April 2012. Meteor fragments are rich in organic compounds – many of which are found in living organisms on Earth – and the newly discovered molecules could shed light on the origins of life on our planet. Arizona State University, who undertook the study, claims the molecules likely formed several billion years ago in conditions similar to those on early Earth.

Sceptics believe 'biological entities' captured in the stratosphere could have been carried high into the atmosphere from Earth - and not from space.



But Prof Wickramasinghe said: 'The biological entities found are particles of relatively large size and mass.

'By our current understanding of the means by which such particles can be transferred from Earth to the stratosphere they could not - in the absence of a violent volcanic eruption occurring within a day of the sampling event - make such a journey.



'If there is no mechanism by which these biological entities could be elevated from Earth to the stratosphere then it must have arrived from above the stratosphere and have been incoming to Earth.'

The Sri Lankan-born British mathematician, astronomer and astrobiologist is one of the leading proponents of the theory of cometary panspermia.



Panspermia is Greek for 'seeds everywhere'.

The panspermia theory states that seeds of life can be spread through space from one location to another. and that life on Earth may have originated through this process.