So there is this one guy who thinks there are aliens out there, and not the ones our president thinks we need to build a wall to stop. Nope, these are aliens of the space kind, and this man, a top Harvard astronomer thinks he has found evidence of their existence.

That’s right Avi Loeb says, “It’s arrogant to assume we are alone in the universe, or even a particularly special species.” So there you have it straight from the astronomer’s mouth. We earthlings think far too much of ourselves.

Loeb’s theory is that at this very moment an extraterrestrial spacecraft or a piece of one is flying around near Jupiter. He published a paper on the subject and set himself in the middle of a media frenzy.

Oh and he surely fired up every UFO believer on the planet. I mean if this smart Harvard guy says there is something alien cruising around Jupiter, there must be something to it.

Now I’m not someone who gives a lot of thought to whether or not there are civilizations from space spying on us or whatever it is civilizations from space do when they fly around our planet. However, I do think it’s fun to consider the possibility.

In fact, I’ve been kinda intrigued by the idea of alien life ever since I saw the movie, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” Anyone remember that classic?

Well, in case you didn’t see this masterpiece, it was a movie that came out in 1951, a year before I arrived on the planet. As a kid, I watched it on television after its theater release.

The movie centers around the arrival of a guy, Klaatu, wearing a silver suit accompanied by a large human looking robot named Gort (Gort was my favorite character). They come in peace concerned about our planet because watching from space they noticed a lot of nuclear proliferation going on. Of course, humans go crazy and panic instead of hearing that they come in peace.

All sorts of mayhem commences ending with Klaatu getting shot and Gort almost vaporizing the planet. Luckily, a mother and her son manage to save the world and teach it a lesson in peace and tolerance. Good stuff.

After seeing the movie, my brothers and I played space aliens for days. One of us was Gort, marching stiff-armed down the sidewalk toward the ones not playing the role of Gort. We screamed and ran in terror, firing pretend weapons in the direction of the approaching robot. Obviously, our young minds skipped right over that message of peace. We liked being scared of scary space robots.

Anyway, back to our modern day space alien adventure. Astronomer Loeb bases his belief that we are a heartbeat away from our first encounter with something alien on data that showed a blip of light moving at a tremendous speed past the sun. He said it was too fast for an inert rock like an asteroid and it has no signs of a tail like a comet.

Loeb doesn’t say its definitely aliens, but, he says, nothing but an alien spaceship or some kind of debris from advance technological equipment fits the data.

Taking nothing away from Loeb’s theory, I have one of my own. First, I share a quote from the star of that movie,

It is of no concern of ours how you run you own planet. But if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder.

“Your choice is simple: Join us in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer; the decision rests with you.” Klaatu.

So maybe, like in the movie, some advanced alien civilization is watching us and has concerns about the path we are traveling. And, that thing speeding around Jupiter is the first section of a HUGE space wall they plan to build to keep us from crossing their borders.

Nancy Blackmon is a former newspaper editor and a yoga teacher.