As I have personally been interested in science especially astronomy and space exploration since I learned how to read at about age 5 and long before I became a true or born again Christian I can say with some basis that I have knowledge of the scientific side of issue of extraterrestrial life (intelligent or otherwise). My interest in astronomy and space exploration especially the human variety was solidified when I eye-witnessed the Apollo 11 lunar landings in July 1969 at a rented cottage in central Ontario when I was 9 years old. The laser reflector left by those astronauts on the moon to determine the Earth-Moon distance precisely probably still works and could probably be used to disprove people who believe the Apollo landings were a hoax if NASA wanted to use this means. I continue to be intensely interested in this subject and am a member of The Planetary Society - the largest grassroots pro-space exploration private organization in the world. I am also quite pleased with the recent and ongoing discoveries of unmanned space probes especially at Mars and to a lesser extent with the current unmanned Cassini space probe at Saturn and its moons especially with the Huygens lander to its large moon Titan that has a substantial atmoshpere with much methane and other hydrocarbons but bemoan the continued lack of appreciable manned space exploration. Although I have not taken formal courses in Biology or Life Sciences I have taken courses in Chemistry including one in Organic Chemistry and have read many articles on Biology in its different areas both from an evolutionary perspective and more recently also from a creationist perspective so I have some understanding of the biology area to comment on the issue of possible extraterrestrial life. I have also been a "born again" Christian for more than 20 years and have read the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation at least 15 times as well as done much Bible study including the terms heaven or heavens and heard many Bible messages and discussed Bible or Christian things many times with other people Christian or otherwise including the idea of extraterrestrial life. I write this article as from someone who has a deep interest, enthusiasm and support for both astronomy, space exploration, and desire to find at least bacteria or equivalent life in the present universe and as a Bible believing Christian that sees these two perspectives as complementary and not incompatible. I also am writing this article feeling that this is a topic of widespread interest to people of many backgrounds although from many different perspectives.
The planet Mars has long been conceived or looked upon as one of the best places in our solar system outside of Earth for extraterrestrial life. This would probably include some but not all Christians with this viewpoint. Of course at first until probably the first close up pictures by the fly by unmanned Mariner spacecraft past Mars in the 1960s Mars was even thought to possibly shelter extraterrestrial intelligent life human-like or otherwise. This was popularized by the astronomer Percival Lowell who conducted an extensive study of features on Mars he imagined to be artificially produced canals by a desperate civilization on the dry climate of Mars. This idea began with another Italian astronomer named Giovanni Schiaparelli who first noticed these features and called them "canali" which is the Italian word for channels but was often interpreted in English as canals. Another prominent person who popularized intelligent life on Mars was H. G. Wells with his science fiction book The War of the Worlds that was famously broadcast on radio in the United States saying that Martians had landed in United States and were trying to take some power and caused quite a panic by some people who thought this was real. I think this was in 1938. Other people have also popularized the idea of intelligent life on Mars but the pictures of the Mars flyby that showed many craters on Mars and a surface apparently void of noticeable vegetation, liquid water or signs of civilization dealt a severe blow to the hopes of finding extraterrestrial life on Mars. This disappointment was further extended when the first landers on Mars the twin NASA Viking probes saw no trees or vegetation (or humanoid or animal life) on Mars in their immediate vicinity. According to a recent brief article in the magazine Science News (November 18, 2006), there is a report that an experiment was done on earth on three arid or very dry locations in Chile, Egypt and Antarctica and two areas with iron-rich soil in Spain and Hawaii to revisit the Viking lander results bearing on the question of possible Martian microscopic life. In these recent experiments on earth the same experimental equipment or techniques that were used on Viking landers were used called thermal volatization - gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (TV-GC-MS) as well as another technique for detecting microscopic life. In these tests in the soil from the very dry locations in Chile, Antarctica and Egypt this other technique indicated there were some biological entitites in the soil but the TV-GC-MS technique used on Mars showed results giving no indication of biological entities. Also in the soils from Spain and Hawaii with abundant iron the results show that in the TV-GC-MS procedure some of the carbon of the biological materials was turned into carbon dioxide in the examinations. One of the researchers said these findings of carbon being turned into carbon-dioxide in iron rich soils (as the soil on Mars) and the lack of detection of biological entities in the arid soil by the TV-GC-MS could explain why the Viking landers discovered carbon dioxide but not organic material. This means there is a more realistic possibility the Viking landers encountered microscopic life on Mars in the 1970s. Unfortunately the present Spirit and Opportunity rovers only have capability to detect water and perhaps other hydrogen bearing compounds and not carbon based or organic compounds but there are plans to send a further lander or rover to Mars with organic compounds detection ability soon.
Although it is somewhat controversial there is a meteorite from Mars named Allan Hills 84001 named I believe from the area of Antarctica where it was found that contains some possible indications of Martian microbial life. This past life is possibly indicated by such things as structures that look like fossilized miniature bacteria. Although their small size even for bacteria was previously used to dismiss it as not possibly biological I believe some examples of such small bacteria or microbial life have more recently been found on Earth. One of the other main indications of possible former life on Mars in this meteorite is deposits of the iron containing mineral magnetite. However this can be produced by both organic and inorganic processes. Anyway in late 2007 this Mars meteorite was used for a further experiment here on Earth. In this experiment this meteorite was studied and compared with some of the ground of the arctic Norwegian island of Svalsberg north of Norway itself by Norwegian scientists. These scientists examined rocks produced by volcanic processes in the frigid climate a long time ago. These scientists found that organic material was present in carbonate spheres in both the Earth rocks and the Martian meteorite. This organic material is strongly related to the mineral magnetite which is composed mostly of iron oxide. This participation of magnetite is the essential part of realizing the formation process of these organic chemicals. When these rocks cooled the magnetite instigated the formation of the organic chemicals from liquids containing abundant water and carbon dioxide which are both known to occur also on Mars and at least previously would likely have occured in relation to liquid water or perhaps other liquids. Although the organic chemicals in the Mars meteorite are not thought to have been produced by living forms at this time the probable production of organic chemicals in a spontaneous way with the assistance of the mineral magnetite on an otherwise cold and seemingly inhospitable environment such as Mars could make the existence of microbial life on Mars in the past or even present more likely as these organic chemcials could be used as nutrients for any possible Martian microbial life forms. This could also make the presence of organic matter more likely on other worlds in our solar system or extrasolar planets more likely if they have water, carbon dioxide and a catalyst such as magnetite and some liquid to transport the water and carbon dioxide. There are more unmanned landing probes scheduled to reach Mars in 2009 or in the next decade by United States, Europe and perhaps others capable of detecting organic chemicals and perhaps life such as bacteria so the discovery of organic chemicals in this meteorite from Mars in a way similiar to rocks in harsh and Mars-like areas or Earth increases the promise that at least organic chemicals will be found soon on Mars. This could be an indication of bacteria life on Mars but any organic chemicals on Mars could be only limited to inorganic means of production and use if there is no more complex involvement in these processes than the magnetite catalyzed production of organic chemicals.
In a radio broadcast I heard last night that including an interview with a scientific specialist who has experience with the Allan Hills meteorite and was familiar with some of the other meteorites from Mars, it was affirmed that there is renewed confidence that the magnetite and wormlike structures on the Allan Hills meteorite and some positive indications on some other Mars meteorites indicate past biological activity on Mars of a microbial nature. It was stated that this magnetite could be produced inside the bacteria or similiar creatures and could be used to orient the microbes with a magnetic field. However this would still be somewhat difficult for microbes on Mars as there is not a global magnetic field on Mars as on Earth although there are local magnetic fields in some places on Mars but these would not be as useful for orienting these microbes on Mars with the different climatic zones as the magnetic field on Earth would be for microbes here.
Although large scale life at least at present of animals, planets or of course humanoid or other intelligent life has pretty well been ruled out on Mars, there is accumulating evidence that Mars can now still support limited bacteria life and may do so and that it could once support much more extensive life and possibly did. The first discovery in favour of the idea that Mars could once support much more extensive life was the early discovery of the Valles Marineris or Mariner Valley which is similiar to but far larger than Earth's Grand Canyon which of course is known to be carved by water. This and many other considerations argue strongly in favour of this Valles Marineris and similiar features that look like they were carved by water erosion actually having been carved by water. Much more recently there has been discovered within a metre of the surface over I think about 2/3 of the surface of Mars especially on either side of its equator a vast sheet of water ice which if melted could form quite a sizable ocean of liquid water and accompanying water system. This could be left over from when Mars was previously a wet planet in its early history including probably an ocean in much of its lower northern hemisphere that also has what looks like several former water channels running into it. In March 2007 it was announced that the European Mars Express has discovered that the south Martian polar cap has about the same surface area as the U.S. state of Texas and that is 1 or 2 miles deep is composed mostly of water ice rather than having a significant part that was dust or other similiar material. It is calculated that is this water ice in the south Martian polar cap were all to melt the resultant liquid water would cover all of Mars to a depth of about 11 metres or 36 feet. Liquid water of course is one of the main components to support life as we know it although theoretically there are some other chemicals that could take its place. Another thing that in some ways is even more interesting is the also recent discovery of what looks like small water gullies on the sides of some crater walls and other places. These are interesting because these gullies usually go over other features such as smaller craters or ridges meaning the water gullies must be more recent. They also in many cases have no apparently more recent features interfering with or imposed on them meaning they are either quite recent or perhaps still active. This would be very interesting for unmanned or manned future Martian explorers to investigate. Ongoing research in support of water is from the NASA Spirit and Opportunity rovers that are continuing to discover evidence of past liquid water on the surface of Mars. This includes the discovery of a rock ledge which seems to give evidence of past water erosion or formation activity as if it was on the shoreline of a former shallow sea. Sulphate components that are usually just formed in liquid water and that were probably dissolved in a liquid water sea at the Opportunity rover site is strong evidence of previous liquid water on Mars especially at that location. There were also many nodules likely formed in water called blueberries because of their blue tinge on some of the rocks there that could also be evidence of past liquid water. The Opportunity rover also found evidence of the mineral Jarosite (K2Fe6(SO4)4(OH)12 that can only form in liquid water and Haematite (Fe2O3) that is usually found mostly in liquid water which is further substantial evidence of former liquid water on Mars. The Spirit rover has also found substantial evidence of Haematite and recently evidence of the mineral Goethite (FeO(OH)) that can only be formed in the presence of liquid water.
In early March 2009 it was announced that after some study it has been concluded that the gullies on Mars are about one million years old (on an evolutionary time scale although I am sure from a creationist perspective there is support for an age at most thousands of years old). This conclusion is based on the lack of craters on top of these gullies that indicates they are fairly recent on an evolutionary and probably creationist time scale. It has been concluded that these gullies were not formed by rock slides or other means but were formed by liquid water but that unfortunately it has been concluded these have not happened in the immediate past (the last couple years of decades etc.).
Although at this time it still has to be confirmed by putting it in one of the ovens in the Phoenix Lander and seeing at what temperature in vaporizes, it has already been largely confirmed that there is water ice just under the surface in at least some of the polar areas of Mars. The landing site of the Phoenix lander was chosen because, as seen from orbit, there were definite indications that there should be ice just under the surface in this location (probably within a couple inches or several centimeters of the surface. It as of November 2008 was later confirmed by putting this sample in the oven that the sample included water ice. As it has looked since the Phoenix lander landed there has been some white areas revealed that could probably be ice that were probably uncovered by the thruster rockets that slowed the descent of the lander before it reached the surface. These rockets probably blew away the top couple inches or several centimeters of soil that is probably dust blown there by Martian winds from other parts of the planet. What is more important that the scoop on the arm of the Phoenix lander dug a small trench that also uncovered some white material. The scientists on the Mars Phoenix lander team waited about 4 days to see what would happen to this white material and as can be seen from comparative pictures before and after these four days the original white material disappeared after the 4 days had elapsed. It was thought at first the white material could be a type of Martian salt or even solid carbon dioxide or dry ice. However the salt wouldn't disappear (sublimate) into gas as this material had done and the temperatures at this site would be too warm for carbon dioxide to be frozen (at least at this season in the Martian year.) The only other material that would be common on that part of Mars that would form at those temperatures and pressures and that would disappear (sublimate) under the given material is water ice so the fact it did disappear in 4 days as well as the fact that this was an area that should have water ice as determined from orbit results in the conclusion that this white material is indeed water ice. The orbiters can detect the presence of ice from orbit but can't determine the form in which it occurs such as clumps or layers etc. Next the scientists hope to put some of the other ice that has been shown to be common around the lander into one or more of the onboard ovens and heat up the material to see if it does indeed vaporize at the temperature for water but also to see what other material might be in the ice including organic chemicals which this lander is also built to detect. If organic chemicals are found this could give more support for the hope that in the past and perhaps even at the present there is at least microbial life on Mars as there are some kinds of bacteria on earth that can survive in water ice I think especially if there are organic chemical in that ice. Even if it is just fossil bacteria that is found on Mars, as long as it can be demonstrated it hasn't been from contamination from Earth, such as from previous landers, it would still be a groundbreaking discovery and would mean that life occurs on more than one place in the universe and probably many places including perhaps more advanced life on more earthlike extrasolar planets or planets of other stars. As a Bible believing Christian I wouldn't find this a problem as I believe God could have created the universe this way if he chose and I don't think there is any contradiction with the Bible although I would have a problem if any human like life is found on any other planet. I think this is next to impossible on Mars as we have studies it in detail for a couple decades and found do clear evidence of people or their building or presence although I am aware there are people that point to the face on Mars and supposed pyramids in some regions of Mars. If no evidence of even bacteria life in this location on Mars is found it could mean that this was just a bad sample or that there isn't any even bacteria life on Mars. I don't believe there is any humanoid or intelligent life on Mars as a Christian since I think God would have mentioned this at least in the Bible so we could pray for them for their salvation or God's help for them or perhaps eventually if we achieved a better technological level to visit them or even with current technology to communicate with them via light, radio waves or other electromagnetic radiation. I also think having another humanoid race would provide a problem or whether the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God would have to go to those planets to die for any sins they committed or whether Jesus's death on Earth would count for their sins but that they couldn't receive him if they haven't heard about him.
Other discoveries of the Phoenix Lander which has now been declared dead due to end of communications due to the approaching northern winter and declining sunlight include the following. Carbonates and clay were discovered which both need liquid water to form and therefore are clear indicators of the past presence of liquid water. Also discovered by the Phoenix lander was the mineral perchlorate which could have provided energy to any bacteria or other material that might have existed in past water at this location in ancient Mars. The soil was also found to be mildly alkaline or basic which would support some life including plants that grow on earth. This is in contrast to somewhat acidic soil at the locations of the two Nasa rovers Spirit and Opportunity near the Martian equator. Unfortunately with the end of the Phoenix lander there is no more possibility of finding organic material or signs of at least past bacteria until an appropriate future mission lands and starts operation.
IN the end of March 2009 after more careful examination of some of the pictures from the Phoenix Mars Lander after it ceased operations an astounding discovery was made. There were what appreared to be small but clearly visible in photographs drops of some liquids. It was clear that this material was a liquid as it ran down the leg of the lander and coalesced into bigger drops as would be expected for a liquid. Although most scientists viewed the existence of liquid water on Mars as an impossibility because of its cold temperature and low atmospheric pressure it does seem that liquid water is the best explanation for the observations on the Phoenix Mars lander. It is definitely known that there is water in that location as the lander uncovered a clear layer of water ice and put some of it in its sampling oven which confirmed the molecule was water ice. However one other compound found in abundance at this location was perchlorates and perhaps some other salts. These salts in water cause the water to freeze at about -60 degrees Celcius just like normal salt that we put on sidewalks on snow or ice in the winter in Canada causes the snow or ice to melt because it lowers the freezing point of the resultant water. This temperature of about -60 degrees Celcius is below the normal daytime temperature at this polar region of Mars at least in the fall and certainly in the Martian summer so temperaturewise this material on the leg of the Phoenix Mars lander but there is still some controversy about these claims especially because the low surface pressure of the atmosphere would make the existence of liquid water on Mars quite unlikely but scientists are trying to understand this physics and the phenomena on the Phoenix lander to better determine if liquid water could form on Mars and whether that is what was observed on the leg of the Phoenix Mars lander. There will probably be more discussion and a better understanding on this issue in the near future. If this is confirmed this would make the search for extraterrestrial life more promising as there are bacteria on earth that could exist in these conditions although it might be too salty for some other microbes.
In some isolated locations on Mars, especially the Nili Fossae region near the Isidis depression, there has been a discovery of significant amounts of carbonate on Mars from the Nasa Mars Reconaissance Orbiter. The significance of this find is that with the abundant carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere and due to other factors there should be abundant instances of carbonate on Mars but up to now none was discovered. This is thought to be in articles from space.com and the bbc that the predominant acidic watery environment that occured at one phase of Mars' history over much of the planet would dissolve the carbonate and so make it more difficult to find. The occurence of the carbonate in this location in Nili Fossae and some other locations on Mars indicates some areas of Mars escaped this acidic watery covering which would be harmful to life even microbes or the equivalent. If Mars ever had even bacteria or the equivalent it would only continue or even its fossil form would remain only if it hadn't come into contact with this acidic water that covered much of Mars as bacteria on earth and probably any Martian equivalent would be damaged or destroyed by this acidic water. Therefore this region in the Nili Fossae valley would be a good location to look for past or present at least bacteria life on Mars as has been pointed out on other sources. This should help Nasa or the space agencies of other countries have a specific target area to have a better chance of detecting at least bacteria life on Mars in the near future.
Although it has long been the subject of science fiction, especially related to Mars, and possible life or civilizations there the discovery announced on March 17, 2007 of 7 caves that were discovered on Mars by the American Mars Odyssey spacecraft is the first actual scientific evidence for caves on Mars. These caves were all found on the Arsia Mons volcano which is part of the Tharsis Montes complex that is located between Olympus Mons and Valles Marineris. There is a drop of between 80 metres and 130 metres from the mouths of these caves to their floors. The entrances to the caves are between 100 metres and 252 metres across. The floors of the caves continue probably to 73 metres to 96 metres below the surface of this part of Mars although one of these caves has a floor that extends 130 metres below the surface of this part of Mars. The significance of the discovery of these caves on Mars and the hope of finding further ones now is that the surface of Mars is still quite hostile to life, either human, animal, plant or bacteria or the equivalents because of the radiation from the sun and our galaxy and beyond that is almost unhampered by any feature on Mars. On Earth we are protected especially by the thick atmosphere of Earth and our substantial global magnetic field. Mars has no global magnetic field and an atmosphere with only about 1/1000 the surface pressure of Earth's. These caves could provide a good initial refuge for possible human astronauts on Mars. These caves could have practical value as a possible refuge for bacterial life especially if there is any source of liquid water inside these caves. Therefore these caves would also be an excellent choice to start looking for possible Martian microbial life although of course lighting would have to be provided.
Recently evidence of possible extraterrestrial microscopic life has been found by orbiting unmanned space probes around Mars through the discovery of clear evidence of appreciable Methane or natural gas CH4 and Ammonia NH3. Each of these molecules are primarily composed of Hydrogen a very reactive chemical element. This means in a relatively short time, hundreds of years, they should all react with the Oxygen in the Carbon Dioxide CO2 that is very plentiful in the Martian atmosphere if they are not being replenished. This means there must be some ongoing source for their continued existence in Mars' atmosphere. According to scientists the two most likely sources are geothermal activity such as volcanoes or bacteria life including that which could be beneath the surface. So far despite several orbiters viewing previously and currently the entire surface of Mars there has been no evidence found of active or recent volcanoes or other geothermal activity. This leaves bacteria as the most likely source of these gases in the Martian atmosphere, if they are confirmed, which would be a strong factor in favour of present bacteria life on Mars. Also although the biological chemical analyzing experiments aboard the Viking landers couldn't find any conclusive evidence of bacteria or similiar life on Mars they also had some readings or results that couldn't be dismissed as being caused by extraterrestrial microscopic life either so further examination is needed in this area as well. The failed Mars lander Beagle 2 was equiped to do such testing but unfortunately mission control people lost contact with it before it reached the surface. The present NASA Spirit and Opportunity rovers are only equipped to detect water I think hydrogen but not also carbon related chemicals. On November 5, 2005 I read an article from www.usc.edu, the University of Southern California website, a scientist named Joseph Miller who works in their Keck School has found evidence from some experiments in arid or very dry areas of earth that in one of them in the American state of Utah a source of methane was traced to methanogens or methane breathing out bacteria in the desert soil there. This professor Miller also noted methane has been detected on Mars and that it would be worthwhile to send another rover to look for Methanogens on Mars. The current rovers are not equipped to detect carbon compounds like methane although the earlier Viking ones were and some of the ambiguous signals for life in the Viking experiments could have been produced by methanogens. Finally in 1996 a meteorite was found on the ice in Antarctica that was determined, based on its isotopes or versions of its atoms with numbers of neutrons, to have come from Mars. What is interesting about this meteorite is that it has miniature features that look like they are small bacteria. Although some of the former points used as possible evidence in support of this rock showing Martian bacteria extraterrestrial life have been discounted, one of the points previously against this rock showing authentic extraterrestrial life, that this proposed bacteria was too small to be once alive, has been discounted. This is because simiarly small bacteria called nanobacteria have been found alive on Earth since the discovery of this Martian meteorite in 1996. One could still argue in favour of this rock having authentic Martian extraterrestrial life although it is still debatable.
On January 15, 2009 it was announced that from a variety of sources including Europe's Mars Express orbiter around Mars and some large ground telescopes on Earth that emissions of considerable quantities of methane gas have been observed on Mars. These sources of methane CH4 also known as natural gas have been mostly from three areas on Mars: Nili Fossae, Arabia Terra and Syrtis Major. Nili Fossae was also recently in the news as is also mentioned above on this web page as the location where the mineral carbonate was found which is only produced in the presence of liquid water which is also an indication of at least past conditions supportive of life. The amount of the production of methane at these sites on Mars is quite considerable and is comparable to that produced in a place releasing methane near Santa Barbara, California called the Coal Pit Point. Methane on Mars is not stable in its atmosphere and would be oxidized quite quickly to form carbon dioxide and probably water and there is not much methane in Mars's atmosphere at all on a long term basis for this reason. Methane on Mars or in its atmosphere is only likely to come from one of two sources. This is either inorganically from volcanoes or organically from microbes that emit methane. There are microbes on earth like this that get their energy from chemical reactions with hydrogen rather than sunlight and these could exist on Mars and feed off the water ice or any of this ice that might melt below the surface but even if such microbes are confirmed on Mars it is doubtful that they would resemble similiar microbes called methanogens on earth if these microbes on Mars are native to Mars. If these methane expiring or other microbes are found on Mars, I as a Bible believing and creationist Christian would still not have a problem with this. I would believe that this is what God created and would show even more his wisdom and knowledge and power. I also don't think there is a problem with this in the Bible since such microbes if they exist would obviously have no spirit and would need no prayer or saviour as some hypothetical humanoid or spirt possessing extraterrestrial life would. The latter is what I believe if found would present more theological problems for Bible believing Christians. But even on scientific grounds such as the lack of convincing evidence from all the Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) searches I think it is not likely that there is humanoid or spirit possessing extraterrestrial life (except of course for angels and demons that are clearly said to be the heavenly host in the Bible.)
On December 8, 2009 there was an article on the Physorg.com web site titled Life on Mars theor boosted by new methane study. In this article the authors commented that any methane in the atmosphere of Mars couldn't last long because it would be broken up by the solar wind streaming into Mars' atmosphere without the protection from a substantial magnetic field as Earth has. Some leading theories for the nonbiological production of this methane have been volcanoes and perhaps more recently meteors from outer space. However this article concluded that neither of these sources could come close to producing the amount of methane observed in the atmosphere of Mars. There seem to be two remaining candidates for what produces the methane in the atomosphere of Mars. One is that previously produced volcanic material, of which there is some on Mars, reacts with water to produce the methane. The other possibility is the most interesting and exciting for many people including myself which is that the methane is produced by microbes in the soil of Mars or perhaps under the surface. If there were microbes on Mars it would be very interested to determine their nature such as if they are based on DNA as practically all Earth life or on some other organic chemistry. If any possible Mars life is based on DNA it could unfortunately be contamination from Earth even though scientists have been very careful to try to prevent this with all the probes sent to Mars especially landers or rovers. However if these microbes are not based on DNA it is prettly certain they would be distinct Martian life and could give us profound insight into the possibilities of extraterrestrial life in other solar systems and remove some of the terrestrial bias we might still have for the possibility of extraterrestrial life. I am not sure what scientific effort there currently is to try to confirm or eliminate the possibility of the Martian methane being produced my reactions with volcanic rock and water or on the other hand that life is indeed responsible for the production of the methane but the public interest in this subject should put much pressure on the scientific community to get the bottom of this matter. As a Bible believing Christian I say again I personally don't have a problem with some extraterrestrial life certainly with microbes or even something like plants or animals but where I do have a problem is with intelligent humanoid life. With humanoid life there is also the spiritual dimension and whether such a race even sinned against the true God the God of the Bible and the God of heaven and earth and if so whether God would have sent a saviour for them or somehow gave them word about Jesus dying for sins here on earth. This to me sounds like God wouldn't allow this to happen and there is also the matter about why God hasn't been more explicit in the Bible about mentioning such hypothetical people and asking us to at least pray for them.
The main line of evidence that suggested there could still be at least bacteria life on Mars was the discovery of the creation of gullies down the sides of some craters on Mars that were created in the last couple years. It is quite certain these gullies were created in the last couple years because they were present in the most recent close up pictures of Mars from orbitting spacecraft but not present in pictures taken from Mars orbiters several years ago. As I mention earlier on this web page they have been with some justification been interpreted as evidence of the recent flow of liquid water but now after closer examination of the evidence it has been decided as recently reported on www.space.com that these gullies were created not at all by water but just by a land slide of completely dry material from the upper parts of the crater rims. As far as I know this conclusion is has been quite carefully considered before being announced and might be very difficult to overcome as most date and options have already been taken into account. Unfortunately this leaves a much less appealing and romantic current picture of Mars but one we might have to accept unless we find any other features that can be explained more conclusively by liquid water or living organisms such as bacteria.
Another matter for which there has been gathering evidence that points to a less hospitable condition for life on Mars in this case in the ancient past when it is known beyond any doubt that there was substantial bodies and flows of liquid water on much of Mars is the following. It has now been determined that Mars in the evolutionary time scale up to 3.8 billion years ago although I am sure with access to the date there could be as credible explanation that it was only several thousand years ago that Mars was much too acidic in the liquid water that then was there for even bacteria or microbial life to exist or survive. This is argued on the basis of the fairly widespread presence of the mineral Jarosite which is comprised chiefly of iron sulfate which apparently can only be created or maintained in water that is very acidic - too acidic to even support microbial life. Although there are still other parts of Mars that haven't been explored as much or for which the past water might still be proved to be less acidic than some of these areas investigated by the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the indication that two widely separated areas on Mars have remains of Mars' watery past that was too acidic for even microbial life should encourage a further shift to extrasolar planets as places for which not just microbial life in the past or present but even large scale life like plants and animals might not only be possible but a reality now as well as in the remote past and that would provide habitable environments for humans or earthlings to travel to and make settlements on eventually. In a biblical Christian view which holds that the time is short at most several years but perhaps much shorter before the Lord at least takes his church to heaven then seven more years for the tribulation, the most likely time for any manned mission to extrasolar planets on which life might be found or which have a tolerable temperature, liquid water and a life-supporting atmosphere would be in the 1000 year Messianic Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Although it is even more likely there will be habitable planets in the eternal age these will be part of the new heavens and not the existing heavens and we likely will then reach them only with our heavenly bodies while in the Messianic Kingdom technology could be developed, perfected and used to reach them by nuclear rocket or other perhaps yet unforseen or still fictional technology.
On July 16, 2008 it was announced that the discovery of the widespread presence of the mineral phyllosilicates on Mars indicates that from 4.6 to 3.8 billion years on an evolutionary timescale or perhaps to just after the curse on mankind about 6000 years ago on a biblical timescale most areas of Mars were drenched with liquid water. These rocks were turned to clays and similiar materials by the persistant and pervasive liquid water at that time. These clays had abundant Iron, Magnesium, Aluminum, Mica and Kaolinate. The water had actually become part of the crystal structure of the rocks from that time which also suggests the persistant flow and abundant availability of liquid water. At first it was thought there were only a couple places on Mars where rocks consisting of these Phyllosilicates occurred but on closer examination they have been found to be much more common almost everywhere on Mars. The conditions that gave rise to these Phyllosilicate rocks especially their widespread distribution on Mars indicates that at least at that time Mars was very hospitable to life. More recent rocks however have been altered to contain sulfates which would form where there is significantly less water and under which conditions life would be much more difficult if not impossible because of the acidity of any water containing these sulfates. These are the type of rocks found in the northern equatorial part of Mars by the NASA Spirit and Opportunity rovers. Scientists are now trying to determine what areas of Mars would have a greater abundance of these Phyllosilicate rocks especially near the surface for future rover missions such as the NASA Mars Sciene Laboratory due to launch in 2009.
This first week of May 2007 I heard on the radio that scientists have discovered for the first time molecular oxygen or O2 in interstellar space. Although this isn't really a surprise that it should be there, I think it probably had a weak spectral pattern that made it difficult to detect for a long time since many other more exotic molecules have already been detected. The discovery of molecular oxygen which of course humans and animals and many bacteria species or kinds rely on for respiration on earth in interstellar space at least leaves the door open that it could also be in the atmospheres of some extrasolar planets perhaps even in sizable quantities. This together with the discovery many years before of water in interstellar space as well as other organic chemicals could further enhance the prospects of at least simple life beyond our solar system although this by no means proves this yet. In a table of molecules found in interstellar space up to about 1985 methane or natural gas CH4 and carbon dioxide CO2 were up to then not listed as discovered. However on a web page dedicated to listing interstellar molecules methane and carbon dioxide are listed as of November 2005. by now. The matter whether methane and carbon dioxide have been discovered in interstellar space and therefore are likely to exist on extrasolar planets would be a very major factor in deciding how common life is in outer space. This is especially true for life resembling that on Earth.
The possibility of finding life outside our solar system has always been closely connected to the discovery of planets around other stars which hadn't been proven until late in the last century. There was then the real possibility that the human race was not only unique and alone but that also ours was the only solar system with planets in the galaxy or universe although this didn't seem very likely in general considerations. Although there have been candidates for extra-solar planets for several decades, none of these were on very firm grounds concerning the detection method or clarity of the evidence. The most famous of these former candidate extra-solar planets was the planet around the very near red-dwarf star Barnard's Star. This planet and most of the other former candidate planets of other stars have now been discounted. The first solid candidate planets of another star were found in 1995 ironically around a pulsar that is probably a neutron star. This type of star is thought to have been generated by the implosion of the star resulting from a supernovae explosion that should have vaporized any planets of that star although this is apparently not the case for this pulsar star and its planets. Several years later around 2000 the first better substantiated planets of other stars were found around other stars by indirect methods. The most common method was to use one of Newton's laws of gravity that two masses revolve around their common centre of mass. This means that a planet around a star should cause a slight movement of its parent star around their common centre of gravity. This would normally include a component of movement of the parent star away or toward our sun, earth and solar system which could be measured as a doppler shift in the spectrum of the light from the parent star. The only case where this would not be the case is if the other solar system had its planet(s) orbiting its parent star face on as seen from Earth. Of course the larger and more massive the planets of other stars especially relative to the mass of their parent stars the more effect they would have on the parent star revolving around their common centre of gravity and the larger apparent change in position of the parent star as seen from Earth and the greater Doppler Shift in the parent star's light as seen from Earth. Therefore the search of extra-solar planets was confined to planets in mass approximately equal or larger to the largest planet in our solar system Jupiter around solar mass stars at first. Solar mass stars were also chosen because for a number of reasons it is thought they would be most conducive for providing a life-sustaining environment for planets around them at the right distance. This distance would vary with the luminosity or light output and output of other electromagnetic radiation by the parent star. In the case of our sun the habitable zone for life as we know it is from 0.95 to 1.37 Astronomical Units (AU). An astronomical unit is the average distance of the Earth from the Sun which is about 93,000,000 miles so our Earth is near the inner edge of the habitable zone around our sun. Although there have been several extrasolar planets with orbits with at least the right average distance from their sun and right average temperature for possible earthlike life all these planets found so far are gas giants like Jupiter with no discernible surface or none that could possibly be reached or that would support life since they would be under 1000s of miles of dense air although they could have earthlike or habitable moons which we have not detected. However most of these planets in this range have very elliptical orbits with a vast difference between their nearest and furthest points from their parent stars and therefore in the planets' temperature extremes and the extremes any possible life on these planets would have to endure. See the table on extrasolar.net for more details. Earlier this year there was discovered a planet with only 7.5 to 5.9 earth masses around another star which means it is probably the first rocky or terrestrial planet discovered but unfortunately it is very close to its parent star only a couple million miles and its surface temperature would be over 1000 degrees and it would be unable to support life as we know it even though it is probably less than twice the diameter of earth and would have gravity and size somewhat comparable to earth.
On March 19, 2008 it was announced that methane or natural gas had been discovered for the first time in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet or in a planet orbiting a star other than our sun. This star is called HD 189733 and is in the constellation Vulpecula or the little fox and is about 63 light years from our earth and solar system. The planet is called HD 189733b meaning it is the second object discovered after the star being the first object in this stellar system. Methane is the simplest possible organic molecule and consists of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms and it can be produced by both organic sources such as cows and termites or inorganic means such as through volcanoes and also by swamps which is probably a decay or dead plants with bacteria. The methane in the atmosphere in the atmosphere of this extrasolar planet is unlikely to be produced by any organic or living source as it is much too hot there. The temperature would be about 900 degrees Celcius or about 1600 degrees Fahrenheit. This is far above the range at which almost any known earth life even bacteria could survive and is at or above the melting point of some metals. This is because the planet HD 189733b is much closer to its star that I believe is somewhat similiar to our sun than our innermost planet Mercury is to our sun with this extrasolar planet having an orbital period of only about 2 days compared to Mercury's period of revolution or year of about 88 days. Also this planet is similiar to Jupiter although much hotter and is a gas giant with no solid surface. The presence of methane was possible to be detected in this planet because it regularly transits or goes in front of its parent star as seen from Earth and so the star's light can be to shine through the edge of the planet's atmosphere and some of the component molecules of this planet's atmosphere can be determined from the molecular spectral lines in this light from the star interferred with by the planet's atmosphere. In a similiar way the presence of water has already been detected in the atmosphere of this planet. Although quite rare some of the components of the atmosphere of the planet Venus can be or have been determined from its transits across the surface of our sun in the past. Although the molecules water and methane in this case would not be produced by or affected by life of any kind due to the extremely hot temperature of this planet HD 189733b, the existence of their presence in a planet around another star indicates that these elements are fairly common in planets in our galaxy at least as they are also found in the existence in especially the gas giant planets of our solar system. Hopefully scientists will soon be able to detect more earthlike planets with masses and temperatures that could support life and if these planets also transit their parent star we will be able to quite possibly detect any significant amounts of methane or water molecules or other molecules that could indicate the presence of life such as molecular oxygen O2 in their atmospheres. In such cases more serious examination could be conducted to see if these molecules are produced by organic or living systems or sources which would be a profound and far reaching discovery but which is not contrary to anything in the Bible even literally interpreted unless they were intelligent beings such as humanoid but we still have a long way to go to get even close to this but the present Corot mission or the upcoming Kepler mission should provide progress. These missions can both detect earthlike extrasolar planets down to 2 or less earth masses that transit their parent stars.
On November 23, 2008 I heard from www.space.com that astronomers have discovered Carbon Dioxide CO2 for the first time in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet. Although this is quite significant and proves that astronomers can detect Carbon Dioxide at the distance of extrasolar planets in this case in the atmosphere of the planet HD 189733b which is about 65 light years from here. However in this case there is little possibility of life occuring on this planet because HD 189733 is a so-called hot jupiter without a solid surface and that is too close to its parent star to have cool enough temperatures to support life. However this could indicate that Carbon Dioxide occurs quite readily in extrasolar planets and could also occur quite readily in the atmospheres of terrestrial planets. However if there were astronomers on other nearby planets they could determine that our solar system has two planets that could support life neither of which is Earth if they used the prevalence of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere as the main guide to the search for life. Both Venus and Mars have atmosphers of mostly Carbon Dioxide but Venus is much too hot for life as we know it and Mars is a little too cold and Mars also has an atmosphere that is too thin to support much life. If astronomers on earth are using carbon dioxide as a guide in the search for extraterrestrial life they should also look for planets with solid surfaces or terrestrial planets and that would have temperatures at which liquid water could exist freely as on earth. As Earth proves plants of similiar life do not need a great proportion of the atmosphere to survive or even thrive as Carbon Dioxide makes up less than 1 % of the atmosphere on earth and planets or similiar Carbon Dioxide based life could probably survive or even thrive on extrasolar planets with similiar atmospheres if other conditions were right. As the astronomers obtain better equipment and abilities at detection they should be able to detect lower mass planets of other stars and to detect atmospheric constituents including Carbon Dioxide in the atmospheres of some of these planets. Again I think as a Bible believing Christian who is interested in science that it is possible that bacteria or even planet or animal life or their equivalent could or might be detected on planets or other stars but for theological and other reasons not humanoid or other intelligent life. The lack of clear evidence from extraterrestrial intelligent life from projects like SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) on a scientific level also lends support to the probable lack of intelligent life at least in other parts of our galaxy.
As of June 2008 the only earth like planet in both mass and temperature is one called Gliese 581 c. It has about 5 times the mass of earth and a distance that would result in a temperature of from 0 to 40 degrees celsius. Although this would provide gravitation about twice as great as earth this planet could still support some type of life at least some plants or animals not to mention bacteria. However it might be difficult for humans to live there with this substantial bacteria not to mention for us or hypothetical intelligent life to escape to space from the surface of this planet as this is difficult enough with Earth's gravity. This planet's gravity would probably mean it was a signicant atmosphere but not too much to obscure a solid surface with extra hydrogen and helium like Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system and with many of the extrasolar planets. This planet is around a star called a red dwarf which is much fainter than out sun and much cooler and smaller but fortunately this planet has a year of only around 20 days which is only about a quarter of the year of Mercury the closest planet to our sun so this planet ends up having a tolerable or benign temperature. The only possible problem this could cause it that it might be more susceptible to flares or ejections of material from its parent star or radiation than earth is from our sun. Unfortunately this planet Gliese 581 c does not transit or go in front of its parent star as seen from earth so we cannot determine its size or density or the composition of its atmosphere or possible ocean until we are able to see it directly which could be in a decade or two if effort is made to develop a better detector in space. This star and planet are around 20 light years away so it is feasible to visit it from earth with leading edge technology rockets like nuclear rockets if it can be determined is has interesting life or would be a suitable second home for humans.
Some time after the discovery of Gliese 581 c and the announcement of its original orbital period of about 20 days which could have brought it within the habitable zone of its parent star there was a significant revision in its distance from its parent star and its orbital period. This also affects the likely temperature for this planet and its prospects for hosting possible life or at least liquid water. The orbital period of Gliese 581 c is now thought to be somewhat less than 13 days which probably means that it would be too close to its parent star to support any life as we know it even though its parent star is a red dwarf and much less massive and much fainter than our own sun. However on April 21, 2009 it was announced on Extrasolar Encyclopedia that two new planets orbit this star both less than 10 earth masses and so quite possibly at least mostly rocky planets like our own earth. One planet is only 1.9 earth masses but is definitely too close to this star to support life as we know it. However another new planet of this star Gliese 581 d has an average distance of 0.22 AU or astronomical units or about 1/5 the distance of our earth from the sun. This would be about 20,000,000 miles since our own earth has an average distance of just over 90,000,000 miles from the sun. This gives Gliese 581d an orbital period or year of 66 days. This would be definitely too close to our sun or another sun like star but one has to keep in mind that Gliese 581 is a much fainter and cooler red dwarf star. This planet Gliese 581 d could according to accounts I have heard on the BBC and www.space.com host liquid water. However one thing I didn't see them or anyone else mention from the data on The Extrasolar Encyclopedia is that this planet has a very high eccentricity or eliptical nature of its orbit. The figure is 0.38 for this planet. By comparison 0.0 would be a perfect circle and 1.0 would be a straight line with no width to its orbit. The implication of this is that, even though its average temperature could support liquid water and other conditions suitable to life as we know it, this planet would have very extreme fluctuations of temperature during its year as it would probably be brought at its nearest point to its parent star to a point that would be too hot for life and perhaps even start to boil the water and at its farthest point it might be too far and too cold to support life. Water could even start to freeze at its farthest point from its parent star. However there are some bacteria on earth that could probably survive quite well even in these extremes of temperature if there was a suitable atmosphere. Since this planet does not transit its parent star we will have to wait until telescope technology improves enough so this planet can be seen directly and the spectra from its light can be analyzed for chemical components and temperature. However now, it is probably the planet that we know that is most suitable to earthlike life. The Europeans are in the serious planning stages now for a next generation telescope on earth that would be able to directly detect and analyze the chemistry of planets such as this but even if everything goes smoothly this would still be several years off before it could begin operations and gather data about this or other extrasolar planets.
On November 13, 2008 there was announced and shown the photographs of 4 claimed planets of other stars. There were three planets around the star HR8799 which is about 130 light years away and 1 planet around the bright star Fomalhaut which is only about 25 light years away and one of the brightest stars as seen from earth. These planets were all between 3 and 10 times the mass of Jupiter in our solar system and were at significant distances from their parent stars. Fomalhaut was also at the inner edge of a disc of debris like the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune in our solar system. Although it would be virtually impossible for any of these planets to support life because they are too distant from their parent stars and too cold, the promise of this technique being used for fainter planets closer to their parent stars in the near future provides hope that it will increasingly detect more earthlike worlds. These 4 planets would also be gas giants with no solid surfaces. This technique effectively blots out the parent stars from the images so the planets can show up and not be lost in the glare of the parent stars. A main advantage of this technique besides giving more definite proof of the existence of the planets is that it allows astronomers to examine the light through its spectrum to determine the composition of the atmosphere and surface of these planets including to determine whether molecules like water, molecular oxygen or chlorophyl are present there that could indicate at least earth-like life. However life on other planets could still exist and be very different from earthlike like such as being based on some other material than carbon such as sulfur or silicon or using some other molecules for drinking and respiration that water and oxygen or carbon dioxide. However this breakthrough in directly photographing planets of other stars gives some assurance we are that much nearer when we can get images of planets that have masses and temperatures similiar to earth and could theoretically support life. As a Christian I believe it is possible other earthlike world will be found even with life up to the equivalent or plants and animals but I doubt intelligent life will be found that would have spirits as there would then be concerns about whether they sinned and whether they would need a Saviour and why God didn't tell us about them in the Bible etc.
In June 2008 European astronomers announced they had discovered a solar systm around another star with 3 planets comparable to the mass of earth with about 4, 7 and 9 times the mass of earth. These type of planets are now called superearths because they are more massive and probably bigger than earth but should still be similiar to earth in having solid surfaces or perhaps a solid surface partly or completely covered by a small depth of water or other liquid like earth with its oceans and seas rivers and lakes. Although all three of these planets from their masses could otherwise support at least some type of life, unfortunately they are much too close to their star which is like the earth but perhaps a bit cooler and fainter with the farthest of these planets have a year of around 20 days which would probably give a temperature of above 1000 degrees Fahrenheit or around 700 degrees Celsius. The other planets in this system including the one with about 4 solar masses are even closer to their parent star and hotter so they would probably be incapable of supporting life even bacteria as these temperatures would probably break apart the DNA or any similiar molecule that might be used as the basis for life on these planets. These planets orbit a star called HD 40307 and are called 40307 b, c, and d. I think this planet is around 40 or 50 light years away. This information is based on data in the Extrasolar Encyclopedia at http://exoplanet.eu. I think in May there was found another superearth around a star called MOA-2007-BLG-192-L that has a mass of 3.3 earth masses. Although this is becoming a very interesting mass in view of supporting earth-like life unfortunately I believe this planet is also much too close to its parent star to be able to support any life. Although this would be the case if this planet was orbiting a star like our sun it is actually orbiting a brown dwarf that is a failed star between a planet and a star. Therefore this planet is probably actually too cold to support life. However the fact that numbers of these superearths are being found as well as the recent announcement by the European planet hunting team that announced the 3 superearth system are refining data and preparing it for publication of another 50 or so other superearths with years up to about 50 days means there could soon be announcements of other superearths that would have cooler and more benign temperatures and more promising locations for extraterrestrial life.
One ongoing area of actual discovery bearing on the search for extraterrestrial life is the continuing detection of exotic microbes or bacteria. A most recent most exotic microbe is one that is completely dependent on radioactivity for energy and not even indirectly on the energy of the sun that occurs I think about 2 miles below the surface of Earth. This bacteria is based on sulfur compounds for its breathing or nutrients. Other exotic bacteria is based on methane or other sulfur compounds, consume organic compounds or other elements or compounds as well as water, oxygen or carbon dioxide. Other exotic environments include extreme pressure either in rock or at the bottom of the ocean, extremes of hot or cold temperature, extreme acidic or alkaline (basic) or wet or dry environments. Inclusion of any of these factors to more extreme extents in environments that earthly at least microscopic life is able to survive in greatly enhances the possible locations even in our solar system in which life even as we know it could survive. It is possible although more unlikely that larger scale life including similiar in scale to humans could exist and survive based on some of these extreme microbes although not likely in our solar system from what we know of it. If we do eventually discover large scale life and even ecosystems that can survive what we regard as extreme environments on planets of other stars or extra solar planets one can make the case just as well to state that they have been created that way by the God of the Bible as to say they evolved randomnly on that planet.
As a Christian who has some knowledge of science especially astronomy, I believe there could well be at least bacterial life in the universe beyond Earth and it may have already been discovered on Mars with the discovery of Methane and Ammonia in its atmosphere and it is likely that in the planets around other stars there will be terrestrial planets more conducive to life than Mars including having liquid water seas or oceans and Carbon Dioxide CO2 atmosphere and perhaps even oxygen but I think if this is the case it will be by God's creation not evolution. There could even be multi-celled or large plants or animals on other planets or other stars but I think humanoid or intelligent life with spirits or hearts won't be found on other planets since there would then be the issue of whether they sinned or not and if so that they would need a saviour or redeemer requiring an incarnation of God to die for their sins as happened for the human race on Earth with God the Son taking upon Himself human body and nature through the virgin birth in the person of Jesus Christ. This would be absurd and impractical if Jesus had to go and die many times for many intelligent races in God's image with spirits and is a strong argument against the possibility of ever finding humanoid life on planets of other stars. There is definitely intelligent extraterrestrial life that is also mentioned in the Bible but this is the heavenly host that are holy angels and fallen angels or demons or evil spirits. Especially the evil angels that bring attention to themselves not to God or His Son Jesus could likely be the aliens and associated with UFOs that can't be explained by natural phenomena or human aircraft or balloons or spacecraft. Their is also some Biblical basis for saying this including Jesus saying there will be signs in the heavens in the tribulation (and perhaps the time leading up to it) such as from about the time Israel became a nation in 1947 or 1948 which was about the time of the Roswell incident in New Mexico in United States which happened in 1947. According to the www.spiraloflife.com author the Nazi preoccupation with the occult and possible offering the Jews and others that they slaughtered as an offering to Lucifer or the devil or Satan in World War 2 could have provided an opening into this world for increased demonic activity that started shortly after World War 2 and continues to increase. However, although these aliens and UFOs appear to be extraterrestrial, their core nature including the lack of detection of these UFOs as coming from deep space and as far as I know no significant sighting of aliens or UFOs or alien technology by astronauts or robotic space vehicles on the moon, Mars or elsewhere in the solar system perhaps even including from the space station or space shuttle or Earth orbit tends to support the idea that these aliens are from another dimension parallel to ours in the vicinity or the Earth and its atmosphere. This alien and UFO phenomena will probably increase until and through the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel partly to give a non-biblical explanation for the rapture or catching up of all born of the Holy Spirit Christians to heaven at the end of the Church Dispensation and just before the tribulaton or 70th week of Daniel starts.
The current aliens or extraterrestrials although it would probably be better to call them as from an extra dimension that exists side by side with our familiar dimensions of times and space are in many way similiar if not identical to the sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6. In the main other references to sons of God in the Old Testament these sons of God are almost always referring to angels, both holy and unholy as in Job 38, 1 and 2 and hardly if at all to humans. To say that these sons of God in Genesis 6 aren't angels because angels aren't supposed to have sex with humans as in Matthew 22 is to assume also that demons or fallen angels want to only do what is honouring to God which is probably an overly optimistic and invalid assumption. Anyway these sons of God clearly has sex with human women, the daughters of men, and this resulted in mighty men, men of renown (fame or ferocious reputation). This is also similiar to the many well documented "alien abductions" which often involve the aliens having sex with humans and/or performing operations involving the reproductive areas presumably to gain more information or eggs or sperm for more reproduction of aliens with humans to produced mixed offspring such as the men of renown before the flood but now called "hybrids". Whether these demon- human offspring in the days of Noah were the same as the giants or just another hideous race is not too clear from the text in Genesis 6. Anyway Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24 that the last days the days of (leading up to) the coming of the Son of man would be as the days of Noah mentioning in particular marrying and giving in marriage which could include a reference to the sons of God marrying human women as well as normal marriages with human men and human women. Perhaps the adoption of legislation in places like Canada, the Netherlands, and Spain allowing marriage between homosexuals or lesbians will make it easier in the near future when the aliens or fallen angels openly manifest themselves to have the definition of marriage extended to include that between humans and aliens (demons) and for those relationships to be viewed as legal and in some senses acceptable for society especially in the soon coming tribulation.
When the people of Judah or southern Israel including Jerusalem worshipped the host of heaven on the rooftops, part of the meaning is of the physical planets and bright physical or natural stars but then as now when people worship these physical planets or stars there could come to be evil spirits, demons or fallen angels associated with these objects that take some of the worship people give to these physical objects and these spirits would seek to order the events in the lives of these people involved in astrology to look like these planets or stars have influence in these people's lives. These evil spirits or fallen angels or aliens or extraterrestrials or UFOs as the spiritual host of heaven could also actually be in the vicinity in time and space of these planets or stars physical host of heaven or even seek to bring back visions to people in astrology, or false mystical religions including the New Age Movement of some of the space time environment associated with the particular planet or star physical host of heaven the false mystical or New Age astrology devotee is worshipping. This hypothesis is strengthened with the mention of other gods in the same verse in this warning with the other gods would also be represented by demons or evil spirits or fallen angels or aliens or UFOs that could be associated with the physical or spiritual host of heaven. Tophet was a place probably a grove used in the worship of the false god Molech in the Valley of Hinnon to the south of Jerusalem. This prophesy was fulfilled when Israel's enemies the Babyolonians under their king Nebuchadnezzar came shortly after and destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple there with fire in Jeremiah 52. Again, although these fallen angels in Old Testament times could have been extraterrestrial, it is just as likely they also know much about these other star systems and just mimic that they come from there but actually come from another dimension or spiritual dimension in the vicinity of Earth. The scripture reference associating the stars of planets physical heavenly host with the spiritual heavenly host and other gods or fallen angels, demons or evil spirits that could also be aliens or UFOs from Jeremiah 19 is as follows:
And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled (by fire) as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offering unto other gods. Jeremiah 19:13
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