A famous 'alien' photo, recently circulated as declassified material, has been traced back to a 1950 hoax, fuelling scepticism about the alien claims the Pentagon had been teasing for release.

Alien: Earth's Emmy-winning composer Jeff Russo said he used an Aztec death whistle to help create the music for the series' famous xenomorph.

Solar winds and coronal mass ejections may scatter narrow signals, making them harder for Earth-based telescopes to detect. The SETI Institute uses radio telescopes to search for signs of intelligent life, recently expanding its search to other galaxies.

The Alien franchise remains one of the strongest sci-fi horror sagas ever made, and HBO Max makes it easy to binge all nine films in one weekend.