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Experts believe aliens haven't visited Earth due to bizarre cosmic 'time curse'

Experts say aliens could be ghosting Earth because of a terrifying cosmic 'time curse' that leaves extra-terrestrials too scared to visit our planet

[Aliens could be avoiding Earth because they are terrified of a bizarre cosmic 'time curse']

Aliens could be avoiding Earth because they are terrified of a bizarre cosmic 'time curse'(Image: Getty Images)

Aliens could be avoiding Earth because they are terrified of a bizarre cosmic "time curse" that would turn them into outcasts, boffins have revealed. Space enthusiasts have long wondered why little green men haven't dropped by for a cup of tea.

Interest has peaked after the US government recently released hundreds of classified UFO documents and the launch of Steven Spielberg's new blockbuster flick Disclosure Day. However, a top space scientist has now exposed the mind-bending reasons why extraterrestrials are ghosting us.

According to Carol Oliver, Professor in Science Communication and Astrobiology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, any alien brave enough to fly to Earth at near-light speed would return home to find everyone they ever knew dead and buried.

[Space enthusiasts have long wondered why little green men haven't dropped by for a cup of tea]

Space enthusiasts have long wondered why little green men haven't dropped by for a cup of tea(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Writing in The Conversation, Professor Oliver explained that Albert Einstein's theories mean time slows down the faster you move through the cosmos. While it sounds like a neat trick, it creates a heartbreaking reality for deep-space travellers.

She said: "They would go home to a planet much older than the one they left perhaps by a century or more. They would be time exiles."

The mind-boggling "time curse" - known to experts as time dilation - has actually been proven by astronauts.

[Interest has peaked after the US government recently released hundreds of classified UFO documents]

Interest has peaked after the US government recently released hundreds of classified UFO documents(Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)

When NASA space-man Scott Kelly spent a year orbiting the planet on the International Space Station, he actually aged slower than his identical twin brother back on the ground.

Professor Oliver said: "He was milliseconds younger than his identical twin because time moves more slowly for objects in motion."

While a few milliseconds won't trigger a family feud, the stakes are vastly higher for aliens. Because space is so huge, any interstellar road trip requires going at significant speeds.

To put it into perspective, the Earth's closest stellar neighbour is Proxima Centauri, a staggering 40 trillion kilometres away.

The fastest spacecraft, the Parker Solar Probe, maxes out at 191 kilometres per second. But even at that blistering pace, it would take 6,650 years just to get there.

To get to Earth within a normal lifespan, aliens would have to fly at near the speed of light. But doing so would warp time so badly that their home planet would fast-forward by hundreds of years while they were in the cockpit.

If being a lonely time exile wasn't enough to scare off the space invaders, boffins say the journey itself is a death trap. Travelling at near-light speed turns tiny, harmless floating hydrogen atoms into deadly, intense radiation.

The friction would generate so much cosmic heat that it would literally "ablate and eventually destroy the hull" of any flying saucer, according to Professor Oliver.

And even if they survived the trip, cracked the time curse and parked up on Earth, the air could melt their faces off.

Earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere, which was pumped out 2.4 billion years ago by ancient single-celled microbes called cyanobacteria, is perfect for humans, but potentially lethal to visitors.

Professor Oliver said: "It's therefore not toxic for us, but oxygen is reactive and could be highly corrosive for aliens."

She added that while they could technically wear protective gear, "reports of visiting aliens do not include any descriptions of spacesuits."

However, experts have already spotted 6,200 exoplanets across 4,700 solar systems. And with over 100 billion stars in our galaxy alone, the mathematical odds of life out there are significant.

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