A new study has found that more and more scientists are believing in the existence of aliens. While many may not believe that other life forms exist in the universe, more research is appearing to point towards the fact that we are not alone.

Aliens have long been considered a thing of fantasy, whether it is like bizarre little green men, or a humanoid Martian. However, with only a small number of testimonies and with no viable proof, many people have simply discounted the fact that other life could exist out in space.

But now, new figures have shown that there is a vast majority of astrophysicists who believe that aliens do in fact exist in the universe. And not only that, some scientists think humanity has the chance to find it.

According to Science Focus, believing in aliens used to make someone a conspiracy theorist, with the person going all out to prove their point — all without any tangible evidence. However, a new survey carried out found that some 87% of astrobiologists they agreed that extraterrestrial life is out there.

To us humans, we may think that Earth and humanity itself is superior to anything else in the universe, but in actuality this could not be less true. In fact, an entire school of scientific thought — the Copernican principle — says that Earth is no more special than any other planet in all of space.

Now, scientists are certain about the presence of aliens somewhere in the universe. The question, as a result, is shifting: not if aliens exist, but where they are exactly.

Theories that have won the backing of scientists include the vast number of stars and planets within our own galaxy. The Milky Way, our home galaxy is estimated to contain anywhere between 100 and 400 billion stars, a simply incomprehensible number which points to the likelihood of somewhere in the universe — either in our galaxy or outside of it — where alien life exists.

Estimates for the total number of stars across the observable universe are roughly 100 sextillion stars; a number that is 13.33billion times the number of grains of sand on our planet. Astrophysicist Mike Garrett from the University of Manchester said other lifeforms will have their own galactic journeys.

“We now know that most stars have a planetary system,” he explained, “that means there are loads of places where life can arise. Besides, simple life arose so quickly on Earth; to me, that’s a key sign that it must be happening elsewhere.”

As well as this, the most basic ingredients needed to create and sustain life are more common across the universe than you might think. All common gasses, such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, can be found on other interstellar objects such as comets and asteroids.

Read More: More and more scientists now believe aliens exist – this is what convinced them