E.T. Is Coming! Science Channel Series Explores Possible Alien Invasion

A new cable television series premiering tonight (March 5) reveals a fresh take on how aliens could invade Earth.

The Science Channel's "Are We Alone?" is a two-part miniseries that uses expert testimony and some creative science fiction to explore how a technologically advanced species could travel to Earth and invade the planet.

"It's like nothing you've seen before," Hakeem Oluseyi, a Florida Institute of Technology astrophyscist interviewed in the series, told SPACE.com.

"Are We Alone?" chronicles an alien invasion from start to finish. Interstellar travelers arrive on Earth, dropping capsules that begin multiplying when they reach the surface of the planet. "Are We Alone?" attempts to explore every aspect of the invasion, from how the biological components could take over the Earth to how humans would react to the aliens.

Oluseyi thinks that an invasion is probably not the most likely way humanity will encounter aliens, however. For the most part, Earth was inhabited solely by single-celled organisms, until more complex life started taking over, Oluseyi said.

"Chances are that single-celled life is the type that's ubiquitous throughout the universe," Oluseyi said.

"Are We Alone?" kicks off a month of Science Channel programming devoted to the search for alien life. Another two-part series, called "Aliens: The Definitive Guide," details the work that scientists are doing to hunt for alien life.

Planet-hunting telescopes — like NASA's Kepler Space Telescope — are helping scientists understand that there are plenty of planets that could harbor life, Oluseyi added.

"We're at this point that we're finding things we always knew were there," Oluseyi said, citing Kepler's newest discoveries. "Life is the same way. We're pretty certain that it's there, but we haven't seen it yet."

There is even a possibility of some form of primitive extraterrestrial life in the solar system, Oluseyi said. Some moons of Jupiter, like Europa, are similar enough to Earth that they could harbor life. It's even possible that alien life has entered Earth's atmosphere through a process called "panspermia."

Some studies have shown that micro-organisms can survive the intense heat and pressure created by entry into an atmosphere, Oluseyi said.

Tonight's first episode of "Are We Alone?" called "The Invasion," premieres on the Science Channel at 10 p.m. ET (check local listings). The second episode, titled "The Offspring," premieres March 12.

Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter @mirikramer and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookor Google+. This article was first published on SPACE.com.

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Dazzling Northern Lights Display Possible This Weekend (SPACE.com)

The first wave in a volley of solar storm particles from the sun hit Earth Friday (Sept. 9), setting the stage for what could be a striking weekend light show for observers at high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, skywatching experts say.

The charged solar particles were expelled by the sun during a series of sun eruptions (called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs) this week. They arrived at Earth Friday, were funneled toward the poles by the planet's magnetic field and began interacting with the upper atmosphere in what scientists call a geomagnetic storm.

That interaction, when solar particles hit bits of the atmosphere and cause them to glow, can create spectacular northern lights displays, also known the aurora borealis. [Amazing Aurora Photos of Summer 2011]

"This could be the first of several hits from a series of CMEs to reach Earth during the weekend," the space weather and skywatching website Spaceweather.com wrote in an alert. "High-altitude sky watchers should b e alert for auroras after nightfall."

The sun erupted with three major solar storms this week between Sept. 5 and Sept 7. The third and largest of the storms was an X2-class solar flare, placing among the strongest types of storms the sun experiences. The coronal mass ejections from the flares were not aimed directly at Earth, so they were not expected to interfere with satellites, power grids or other infrastructure, space weather experts said.

Major solar flares have already created dazzling northern lights for skywatchers throughout this summer. In August, a series of solar events set the stage for an amazing weekend display, according to some observers.

On Aug. 5, skywatcher and photographer Colin Chatfield witnessed an impressive aurora display just outside Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, Canada.

"We don't actually see the aurora too often here, even though we are more north than lots of your audience," Chatfield told SPACE.com in an email, adding that while this year's auroras were a bit dimmer than those of August 2010, he did manage to catch a meteor streaking across the sky this time. "Even though the ones [on Aug. 5] were not as impressive as last year, they were still amazing to watch them develop, then dance overhead."

Editor's Note: If you snap an amazing photo of the northern lights displays this weekend and would like to share it with SPACE.com for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at: tmalik@space.com.

You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalik. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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