Scientists have been searching for signs of life in the universe for several decades and while they have obtained some interesting results, nothing has proven that there is life beyond Earth.
However, Lisa Kaltenegger, the director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell, believes that the announcement of the discovery of alien life is imminent, BGR reported citing reports from The Telegraph.
Kaltenegger claims the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) could help achieve the feat in the next few years.
JWST's observatory, considered the most powerful that humankind has ever built, has changed humans' understanding of the cosmos to its foundations.
But will it help discover alien life?
Kaltenegger thinks it's very likely because JWST was designed to detect biosignatures or "signs of life".
These include methane produced by organisms, which is most likely to help humans find evidence of alien life beyond our solar system.
Kaltenegger claims that the planets orbiting the red dwarf star Trappist-1 are the most promising.
She believes that experts may be able to detect biosignatures in the gases on these worlds within the next five to 10 years, which in terms of scientific research, is nothing.
According to the publication, if Kaltenegger's claims turn out to be true, then "it will be a huge breakthrough for search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), which has been searching for any signs of alien life since its inception."
Additionally, he said that if Kaltenegger’s timeline is "anything close to correct, we’ll have our proof sooner rather than later."