The confirmation of the existence of aliens is just ‘weeks away’ according to professor

A race is apparently on to become the first to publish the evidence

Professor Simon Holland, an academic who has produced documentaries for NASA-funded projects, has said two rival groups of astronomers are aiming to become the first to publish evidence of an extraterrestrial civilisation.

Speaking to the Mirror, he said: “We have found a non-human extraterrestrial intelligence in our galaxy, and people don't know about it.”

Prof Holland claims to have been given the tip-off by a contact within Mark Zuckerbeg's Breakthrough Listen, a privately-funded initiative aimed at finding evidence of civilisations beyond Earth.

He claims that a few years ago the group found clear evidence of transmissions from another world, using the Parkes telescope in Australia.

However, due to the extraordinary nature of the claims, Holland said the astronomers have been trying to gather more concrete evidence before making the alleged findings public.

But he claims a Chinese program could publish the findings before them.

The academic told the Mirror: “This is breaking news, as of yesterday, but the Chinese might be pipping them to the post, with their, FAST [Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope] program. It's the largest telescope in the world since Arecibo.”

The "non-human technological signature" was picked up from a target object known as BLC-1. The signal from BLC-1 was a "narrow electromagnetic spectrum" according to Prof Holland, who stressed that it was different to any natural phenomenon.

He believes an announcement, from either Breakthrough Listen in Oxford or from the Chinese team, could come within the next month, potentially coinciding with the US presidential election.