A priest and other religious experts are helping humanity prepare for the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
NASA has called on 24 theologians to help them determine how different religions around the world would react to alien contact.
They were hired by the space agency to take part in a year-long program called 'The Societal Implications of Astrobiology'. The study, which took place in 2016, occurred at Princeton University's Centre for Theological Inquiry, The Times reports.
New telescopes, rovers, and probes are making the discovery of extraterrestrial life forms increasingly likely. The launch of the James Webb telescope - which will be able to see so far into space that it can trace events happening a quarter of a billion years ago - on Christmas Eve this year takes us one step closer to coming face to face with aliens.
Former head of NASA's Astrobiology Institute Carl Pilcher spoke about the program's objectives. He said it was set up to "consider the implications of applying the tools of late 20th (and early 21st) century science to questions that had been considered in religious traditions for hundreds or thousands of years."
Pilcher also said that the idea of Earth being the only planet with life is "inconceivable when there are over 100 billion stars in this galaxy and over 100 billion galaxies in the universe."
Among the religious leaders to take part was British priest and Cambridge University theologist Rev Dr. Andrew Davison.
In a new book - Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine - he considers the possibility of God creating life on other planets, as well as reflecting on the study and its findings.
One of the chief discoveries made by the study was that religions were remarkably well equipped to deal with extraterrestrial life.
"The headline findings are that adherents of a range of religious traditions report that they can take the idea in their stride," said Davison.
He added that "non-religious people also seem to overestimate the challenges that religious people... would experience if faced with evidence of alien life."
Meanwhile, a rabbi, an imam, and another Anglican priest agreed with Davison's sentiment, telling The Times that Christine, Jewish and Islamic doctrine would not be compromised by the discovery of aliens.
