The truth is out there – or is it? The fact is, people have been looking to the skies for decades in an attempt to see if there’s more intelligent life up in the stars. There have been movies, TV shows and pop culture galore based around the phenomena of Unidentified Flying Objects – what is it that makes flying saucers so fascinating? Take a look below for 14 crazy and bizarre facts about UFO’s.

1. The concept of ‘flying saucers’ seems to date back to the late 1940s, when Kenneth Arnold reported seeing at least nine objects speeding through the sky. He said they were like ‘saucers skipping on water’, and that’s pretty much where the name flying saucer came from.

2. In fact, we have the press to blame for the term – as a news report stated that the objects were shaped like saucers. The rest, as they say, is history – or is it?

3. Area 51 has been of keen interest to UFO enthusiasts for decades. This zone, based in Nevada, is said to be home to a spy plane program once active during the Cold War. However, that hasn’t stopped theorists from claiming the experiments at the site were actually taking place on alien crafts.

4. The term UFO, which stands for Unidentified Flying Object, has been in popular use since at least 1952.

5. There are a few famous people who have claimed to have seen UFOs and aliens in the sky. Perhaps one of the most famous is ex-US President Jimmy Carter, who once claimed to have seen a flying saucer in the sky in the early 1970s.

6. There are thought to be around six UFO sightings per day, and that these have ramped up since the 1960s.

7. It’s thought that most UFO sightings occur on Friday nights – which some might see as a correlation between the time a lot of people go drinking after work! However, the veracity of UFO claims vary from case to case – especially as some sightings have been explained away rationally.

8. However, scientists believe more than ever that other intelligent life may exist elsewhere in the universe. It’s thought that leading experts believe around 20% of all planets in the known universe may possess life. However, time will tell if we will ever make contact!

9. It’s thought that life on other planets is likely to be aquatic. Studies have shown that there have been bodies of water on the Moon, Mars and elsewhere. Some believe that the first aliens we come across may be much like the squids or dolphins we are accustomed to on Earth.

10. Many people have faith that life exists elsewhere in the universe thanks to its ability to persist. It’s true that even the simplest of life forms have grown and evolved in harsh climates and conditions, even the simplest of bacteria being a great example. Therefore, theoretically, there are no reasons why life couldn’t start in harsher climates.

11. It’s thought that – or at least it’s estimated that – there could be up to 40 billion planets like ours in the Milky Way alone. This is based on our existing knowledge of exoplanets in the region.

12. Scientists and enthusiasts often refer to the area of space most likely to host life other than our own as the ‘Goldilocks Zone’. Why is this? It’s an area which is neither too close nor too far from the Sun – but is just right, much like Goldilocks’ choice of porridge. Strange but true!

13. Believe it or not, around 40,000 US citizens and more have taken out insurance policies to protect themselves financially in the event of alien abduction!

14. It’s thought that we might be looking for aliens in the wrong place – as it’s more likely that extra-terrestrials are inhabiting the moons of Jupiter rather than Mars or Venus. That’s because these moons seem to have liquid beneath the surface – and that something is stopping them from freezing over. Who knows if we will ever find out the truth?