10 Places Most Likely To Harbour Alien Life

Perhaps we're super-curious, or perhaps we're just desperate to find that we're not alone in the universe, but there are a great many scientists out there dedicating their lives and careers to finding the most likely homes for extraterrestrial life.

Obviously it would be great if one of our big, fancy space telescopes suddenly sent back a picture of an Earth-like planet lit up like a Christmas tree with a big "We Are Here" sign stuck in the top of it, but unfortunately that hasn't happened yet, so scientists have to be a little more cunning.

In the search of alien life, it's all about probabilities. We are 100% sure that life has formed on at least one planet in the universe, so it makes the most sense to go looking for alien worlds that closely resemble our own. 

However, the cosmos might not have such an absolute idea of what life in the universe should look like, so we need to be open to the possibilities of extra-terrestrials looking nothing like anything we've ever seen before.

So where are we looking? The simple answer is everywhere, with our telescopes scanning the whole sky for a peep of alien life. Obviously, it's easier to get a closer look at the planets in our own solar systems, but with the discovery of a huge number of Earth-like exoplanets over the last couple of decades, our options are becoming seemingly endless.

Io, the third largest moon orbiting Jupiter, seems like an unlikely choice for the cradle of life, due to the 400+ active volcanoes on its surface, wildly variable surface temperatures and deadly ionized gasses swirling about its atmosphere. Io orbits Jupiter in a band of radiation called the Io plasma torus that would quickly kill anything on its surface.

However, some scientists believe that Io wasn't always the vision of hell that it is today, and that the early Io might have had plenty of liquid water on its surface that has since all been evaporated by the violent volcanic activity. 

It is thought that these ancient lakes could have been a nursery for life that has since retreated below the moon's troubled surface, clinging to life in the underground lava tubes and sustained by the energy given off by the volcanic activity.

Unfortunately, even if Io is home to a race of alien mole people, we're unlikely to find them any time soon as it would require a large-scale mining operation that we simply don't have technology or funding for at the moment. Due to the aforementioned hellish surface, we can't exactly expect them to poke their heads out either.

If we were to discover even the simplest organic life on Io, it would stand us in pretty good stead for discovering it elsewhere as, if life can survive the radioactive oven of Io, it can survive anywhere.