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Did Life on Earth Come From Space?  

Photo by Liaison.

Forget looking in outer space for aliens, because we may in fact be the aliens.

Life on Earth may have begun when meteor-like planetary fragments carrying microorganisms collided with the planet during the early days of the solar system. This according to a joint study by Princeton University, the University of Arizona, and Centro de Astrobiologica in Spain.

The research offers the strongest evidence of lithopanspermia: the theory that basic life forms transfer through the universe via fragments propelled from planetary systems at high velocities by volcanic explosions and collisions and then get trapped by the gravitational pull of neighboring systems.

The study estimates our solar system and closest neighboring planetary system exchanged fragments 100 trillion times before the sun left its native star cluster.

And somewhere Ridley Scott is smiling and saying, “I told you so.” His Prometheus, which depicts aliens from a faraway planet implanting life on Earth, comes out on DVD in October.