'Aliens know we are here' Top scientist claims humans should make contact NOW

Humans should focus on sending "hellos" closer to home, according to a top stargazer.

He explained that it could take aliens up to 50,000 years to reply if the messages are being sent too far away.

But contact with aliens will not be dangerous.

Professor Douglas Vakoch, of California Institute for Integral Studies in California, said: "Any civilisation that has the ability to hear our message has likely already heard our 'leakage' so they already know we are here.

"And instead of sending messages where it would take 50,000 years to get a reply, we should send messages to stars that are closer so that, even if it takes a decade or two to get a reply, at least



it would be in a person's lifetime."

This comes after Stephen Hawking warned communication with extraterrestrial beings would be "dire for mankind".

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But the top scientist has undermined the cosmologist's ideas as "irrational".

Mr Vakoch told Seeker: "But when even the world's most brilliant cosmologist Hawking evokes images that just aren't plausible, creating fears that foreclose innovative scientific research, we need to step back and look for a more rational way to evaluate the situation."

"It's important to find a way to seriously consider the risks of METI, and not just rely on lurid images of alien conquest."