Solar system life not far off

How long will it be until earthlings encounter those little green aliens?

You may have heard about or actually listened to Orson Wells' 1938 radio drama "the War of the Worlds". when creatures from outer space landed in Mercer County and wreaked havoc in the Garden State.

Dozens of movies and TV shows have depicted aliens in one form or another including  "ET", "Aliens", "Star Wars", "Close Encounters", "Star Trek", and "My Favorite Martian".

Now, get ready for the real thing.  Right now, though, it's not what you may think.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has recently detected evidence that a moon around Jupiter has an ocean that exists between two layers of ice.  That discovery may give credence that some form of life might exist in the solar system.

With the advent of advanced solar exploration we are getting closer to finding life on other planets.

NASA's chief scientist, Ellen Stofan said "I think we're going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade".  Stofan thinks we will have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years.

Do scientists think they'll discover some strange looking creature?  It's not likely.  They think the first discoveries will be little microbes.

A physics expert at NASA, Jeff Newmark, predicts it's a matter of "when, not if" when life beyond Earth is discovered.

It's kind of exciting and scary.