Home Space What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Space By Joe Burgett -

In Star Trek, the saying is that the people on the Enterprise are “boldly going where no man has gone before.” While Starfleet might be doing this in the distant future, by the time the show takes place, it is a given that we are not alone in the universe. As of this writing, we do not know that. It is a statistical impossibility that we are. In the Milky Way Galaxy alone, there are 200 billion stars, some with planets around them that could be habitable. Outside our galaxy are many other galaxies with millions to trillions of stars, also with planets around them that seem potentially habitable. But do alien worlds know about us?

Imagine growing up in another galaxy, wondering if there is life in the Milky Way. You’re also a victim of lightspeed. This is important when trying to view planets in other systems or galaxies as they are lightyears away. Thus, we see them as they were in their past, not the present. The Earth is over 4 billion years old and nothing close to humans came around until roughly 4 to 6 million years ago. Depending on how far galaxies are from us, they could see a very different Earth than what we know today. Let’s discuss what some might be seeing in near as well as far-off galaxies.

Andromeda Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Photo illustrating the Andromeda galaxy, Messier 32 is visible to the upper-left of Andromeda’s center. Photo Credit: NASA

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Distance From Earth: 2.53 Million Lightyears
Number of Stars: Estimated 1 Trillion

One thing people often get incorrect about the Andromeda Galaxy is that it is NOT the closest galaxy to the Milky Way. It is, rather, the closest of the large galaxies. It is roughly the same size as the Milky Way at 1 trillion solar masses. We are also expected to collide with this galaxy in a little over 4 billion years from now. Due to the trillion stars, Andromeda is assumed to have some possible exoplanets that life could reside on. As of now, it is 2.5 million lightyears away from our solar system. Thus, living beings could only see the Earth as it was 2.5 million years ago.

At this time, we were in the Paleolithic period. The Homo habilis species of humans existed during this point. This is the species that began using stone tools for the first time. We did not establish many large societies, and it is likely some were inbred. Meanwhile, others in this period would have come across some small families bred with them. Living beings had it rough in this era, as it was a point of repeated global cooling. While it was not quite the “Ice Age” that took down the dinosaurs, it was glacial in several sections of the world off and on every year. Something that could not exist today.

Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
The galaxy Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte, one of the loneliest (and oldest) galaxies in our cosmic neighborhood, imaged by the VLT Survey Telescope. Photo Credit: ESO

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Distance From Earth: 3.1 Million Lightyears
Number of Stars: Unknown Amount (More Pop Up Often)

This galaxy gets its name from those who discovered it: Max Wolf, Knut Lundmark, and Philibert Jacques Melotte. It happens to be an irregular galaxy or a galaxy without a regular shape. They can often look chaotic and all over the place, unlike the beautiful nebulas that you see with other galaxies. Most of its stars seemed to form roughly 13 billion years ago, which could be why they have many red and yellow stars. Yet it continues to develop new stars often. Most of its newer stars are in the southern region. While unknown if it contains alien worlds where life exists, it does have planets that are in habitable zones.

The galaxy is a little over 3 million lightyears from Earth. If they saw us in a telescope, they’d see an Earth that slowly began to show cooling at the poles. Around this point, the North Pole would have become covered in ice. On top of this, shortly beforehand, the Australopithecus Afarensis species of human popped up. They looked heavily like what an ape might look like today. These beings were short but stocky, likely still swinging in the trees. Their bodies were heavily prepared for cooler temperatures, but they wouldn’t have had a major society or language.

Whirlpool Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
The Whirlpool Galaxy (Spiral Galaxy M51, NGC 5194), a classic spiral galaxy located in the Canes Venatici constellation, and its companion NGC 5195. Photo Credit: NASA

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Distance From Earth: 23.16 To 31 Million Lightyears
Number Of Stars: 100 Billion

Other than the Milky Way, it is likely the Whirlpool Galaxy is the most well-known for us Earthlings. It happens to be between 20 to 30 million lightyears away from Earth. However, we can see it with basic binoculars. It’s so beautiful that it is considered literally a “grand design spiral galaxy.” These are galaxies with well-defined arms that clearly extend around the galaxy with many radians. Only 10% of all known galaxies are like this. The Whirlpool Galaxy is also so large it interacts with another galaxy. The nearby NGC 5195 dwarf galaxy is called Whirlpool’s “companion.” They interact but don’t disturb the other.

Depending on the exact distance, those alien worlds in Whirlpool could see an interestingly developing Earth. About 34 million years ago, Gondwanaland finished breaking apart. This meant Australia and South America completely separated from Antarctica. The big guy took it pretty hard, as this land then became covered in ice as it moved further south by 24 million years ago. Interestingly, during this same timeframe, grasslands began to form. This was incredibly important as new species would pop up and rule the grasslands just a few million years later.

Eye Of Sauron Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
The eye of Sauron Nebula. Photo Credit: FDRAGON/Shutterstock

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Distance From Earth: 50 To 61.97 Million Years
Number Of Stars: Estimated 10 Million

If you’ve ever seen NGC 4151, you’d likely say it looks like a giant eye. Many astronomers ended up giving it the infamous nickname of the “Eye of Sauron.” The distance it happens to be from Earth is disputed somewhat. Some claim it is roughly 50 million lightyears away while others say it’s a little over 60 million lightyears away. Regardless, this is still a Seyfert Galaxy, otherwise known as one of the two largest groups of galaxy types. We now know it is one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way with its own supermassive black hole. In fact, while the numbers are disputed, this black hole is still growing.

Depending on the exact light-year distance, they would be seeing a heavily changing Earth. Roughly 60 million years ago, an infamous asteroid hit modern-day Mexico. This caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, but also roughly 50% of all living creatures. On top of this, we had a global Ice Age that lasted for millions of years. Yet by the 50 million mark, modern-day India ended up colliding with Asia. That slowly began to form the Himalayas. Thus, anyone on alien worlds within the Eye of Sauron would be seeing a lot of crazy change. Yet they might assume Earth to be a cold planet like we see Pluto today.

Backward Galaxy 

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
NGC 4622 or “Backward Galaxy” lies 111 MLYs away in Centaurus. The outer arms rotate in a backwards direction! Photo Credit: Hubble Satellite/NASA

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Distance From Earth: 111 Million Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Estimated 200 to 400 Billion

Initially called NGC 4622, this galaxy eventually was given the name: “Backward Galaxy.” Why was this? We initially thought spiral arms trailed in spiral galaxies with those arms winding away from the center in the direction of the disk’s orbital rotation. For this galaxy, the outer arms are the leading arms, and the tips of spiral arms point toward the direction of disk rotation. It also has a single inner trailing spiral arm. Basically, it spins backward, which defied the knowledge of the time. Of course, due to this, the galaxy would be given its now infamous name. It is also part of the massive Centaurus Cluster.

Roughly 3 million years before this, the world began to change from the violent hellscape it was for many years prior. It began to slowly cool down, which allowed the first modern mammals to form. That includes some in the sea, but many others began to appear on land. Things like apes and whatnot did not exist at this point, but they were slowly coming after this. If alien worlds in the Backward Galaxy saw the Earth, they’d be seeing an Earth that appeared like it does today. Yet life would be sparse and spread out, likely harder to see.

Sculptor Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Sculptor galaxy (NGC 253), also known as Silver Star Galaxy. Photo Credit: Caltech

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Distance From Earth: 11.42 Million Lightyears
Number Of Stars: 22 Known (But Millions Are Assumed Present)

Also known as the Silver Star Galaxy, the more commonly known Sculptor Galaxy is pretty amazing. Astronomers refer to it as a “starburst galaxy.” These are galaxies that are forming numerous new stars, with systems popping up around them. The Milky Way produces roughly 3 million new stars in an Earth year. Yet starburst galaxies like the Sculptor have a star formation rate of 33 times that. You can actually see it with binoculars, as Sculptor is only a little over 11 million lightyears away. Due to many new stars popping up, it might get its name honestly. However, this only helps it to produce more light for us to see it.

We only know of about 22 main stars that we can see. Yet 6 of them have planets, proving alien worlds could be looking at Earth too. What version of Earth are they seeing? Geologically, we’d be in the Tortonian period. This era saw the Messian Event, where lakes dried up. This includes the Mediterranean Sea, which would not fill back up for a long time. Plus, several ice ages began, resulting in the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. If that is not enough, separation slowly began to happen between the human and chimpanzee ancestors. Quite a lot went down roughly 11.5 million years ago.

Ursa Major I Dwarf Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Hubble Space Telescope view of NGC 5477 Dwarf Galaxy of M101 group. Photo Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

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Distance From Earth: 330,000 Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Over 100 Million

Ursa Major I is a dwarf galaxy that is actually a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way, found in the Ursa Major Constellation. This is likely why it is so close at just 330,000 lightyears from Earth. It is fairly new to us as it was only discovered in 2005. It likely took so long because the system is relatively faint and hard to see. Thus, we had to wait for technology to advance. Ursa Major Dwarf II would be discovered in 2006. Both have stars that are likely dying off. We have seen a little over 100 stars and most are around 10 billion years old. Interestingly, 21 of the stars we’ve seen have planets around them with habitable alien worlds.

If they saw Earth as it looked around 300,000 years ago, they would be seeing the Neanderthal group of early humans. They were considered relatively dumb compared to other ancient humans. Yet they were the ones who drew on caves, made incredible early tools, understood fires, developed small societies, and more. We were in the Chibanian period or truly late Middle Pleistocene. While not a technical ice age, glacial temperatures were commonplace for several early humans. Alien worlds would see an icy Earth, with spots of early humans trying not to freeze to death.

Sombrero Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
One of the universe’s most stately and photogenic galaxies, the Sombrero galaxy, Messier 104 (M104). Photo Credit: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

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Distance From Earth: 31.1 Million Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Over 100 Billion

We can say that at least the Sombrero Galaxy gets its name honestly. This galaxy certainly appears to look like a sombrero, which is pretty awesome. It is somewhat larger than the Milky Way, roughly 0.3x. Astronomers love to study this galaxy due to it being so close and easier to see. A little over 31 million lightyears away, we’ve been able to find out a lot about it. For example, scientists love to point to its numerous globular clusters. These are spherical, tight collections of stars. The galaxy has about 2,000 of these clusters. It is estimated to have more than 100 billion stars in total, several with planets around them.

What might these alien worlds be seeing 31 million lightyears away? We know this was a period of large extinction, the Grand Coupure to be exact. Most victims were aquatic, which made sense due to the widespread glaciation that took place. What came next was pretty important. Mammals popped up, but more importantly, different types of fauna overall came about. In fact, this was when many of our modern types of flowering plants started to form. In spite of arctic conditions, these plants found a way to last, and continue to survive until today.

Cartwheel Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
This composite image of the Cartwheel galaxy group shows optical data overlaid with X-ray data (purple) from NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory. Photo Credit: NASA/CXC; Optical: NASA/STScI

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Distance From Earth: 500 Million Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Several Billion

The Cartwheel Galaxy is quite beautiful for people to see. It is referred to as a “lenticular galaxy.” They fall in between the elliptical and spiral galaxy types. Thus, they have large-scale discs but do not have large-scale spiral arms. These types of galaxies, due to being disc galaxies only, have sadly lost most of their interstellar matter. This means they do not have much new star formation. The Cartwheel Galaxy among other lenticular galaxies has very old stars. This is actually one of 4 galaxies, with Cartwheel being the dominant one. Thus, the others work alongside it as companion galaxies.

This galaxy is about 500 million lightyears from Earth, meaning the alien worlds here are likely seeing quite a crazy Earth. The first animals, period, showed up just 100 million years before this. We would be in the heart of the Cambrian period, one of the most notable in Earth’s history. This is the first we saw of prokaryotes, protists, algae, fungi, and other single-cell organisms. All of which still exist today. Pangea broke apart before this, but some continents remained or came together such as Gondwana. Reefs began to form in our oceans, allowing for even more life to come in the aquatic environment.

Large Magellanic Cloud

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Sheets of debris from a stellar explosion in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy. Photo Credit: NASA Images/Shutterstock

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Distance From Earth: 158,200 Lightyears
Number Of Stars: 30 Billion

While some have often been critical of adding the Large Magellanic Cloud to galaxy lists, it certainly belongs. This is also a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way, and one of the five closest to us. Officially, this is a “magellanic galaxy.” They are special dwarf galaxies that contain one single spiral arm. Of course, we only know they exist due to the LMC discovery. These galaxies are often seen as the intermediate or middle between dwarf spiral galaxies and irregular galaxies. Typically, they’ll orbit larger galaxy formations, just like LMC.

Due to its closeness, we know it contains hundreds of thousands of giant and supergiant stars. Complete with 60 globular clusters, 400 planetary nebulae, and 700 open clusters. Alien worlds here are likely seeing an exciting Earth at just under 160,000 lightyears away. While it is yet another glacial period, we are toward the end of it here. Neanderthals were beginning to phase out as we’d be moving into the first modern humans too. Of course, this period for humans was immense, with hunting taking off, along with the invention of several tools.

Small Magellanic Cloud

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Star forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Photo Credit: Allexxandar/Shutterstock

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Distance From Earth: 200,000 Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Over 100 Million

A lot like its cousin, the Small Magellanic Cloud is found right outside the Milky Way. It is the smaller of the two, clearly, and it happens to be further out. Yet they work the same way and look quite similar. It’s true that 200,000 lightyears is still very far away, but it’s close enough for us to see this galaxy with the naked eye. On a clear night, you can look up and likely see it pretty easily. If not, average binoculars could help. There are hundreds of millions of stars here that offer enough luminosity to view it from anywhere on our planet.

Due to being 200,000 lightyears away, it is put in roughly the same time period as the LMC. Any of the alien worlds within this galaxy are going to be seeing a ton of life popping up. Sure, we’re still in a cold period with only small areas where our human ancestors could be. Yet if they stick with Earth for a while, they are going to see it warm up over the next 100,000 Earth years and present something quite impressive. Who knows what might be seen from Earth each day for them during this period in our existence? It is an exciting time in Earth’s history, as life was slowly beginning to flourish.

Lindsay-Shapley Ring

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Lindsay-Shapley Ring Galaxy AM 0644-741. Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)

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Distance From Earth: 300 Million Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Potentially Billions

The Lindsay-Shapley Ring has an incredible story in how it formed. You might be seeing the yellowish center in the image we added, right? It looks beautiful, but this ring actually took that yellowish nucleus as its own. It was part of a normal spiral galaxy, yet the ring took it as its own after it potentially collided with that other galaxy. The ring is 150,000 in diameter and was not always a ring. Thus, when it collided with the other galaxy, it just punched through it. Gravitational forces caused dust in the galaxy to condense, leading to the formation of stars. Then the full expansion happened, leading to the ring forming too.

Our Earth 300 million years ago was going through quite a big change. The first amphibians and reptiles began to form after a large extinction period that killed off 70% of the world’s species just a few million years beforehand. Many of the world’s winged insects began to form in this time. Life burst out possibly due to the highest-recorded atmospheric oxygen level for the Earth. Not just animals came from this, new species of plants and trees came too. This includes coal forests, scale trees, ferns, giant horsetails, and even corals in the seas and oceans.

Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Artist’s concept of the four tails of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy (orange clump on left of the image) orbiting the Milky Way. Photo Credit: Amanda Smith/Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge

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Distance From Earth: 70,000 Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Hundreds Of Millions

The Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy is pretty unique. Astronomers classify it as an “elliptical loop-shaped satellite galaxy,” which is quite the mouthful. Elliptical galaxies are known for offering a crisp, spherical shape that offers a nearly featureless image. While Sagittarius does this, it also happens to be looped more than perfectly spherical. The Milky Way and its gravity might be whose to blame for that. While it is roughly 50,000 lightyears from the center of the Milky Way, we rest near the outer banks. That means it needs another 20,000 lightyears to reach us. They are still one of our closest galaxies.

While we only know of a little over 80 stars, we know several of their stars contain potential alien worlds. If they were looking at Earth, they’d be seeing a really interesting time for us 70,000 lightyears away. Homo sapiens officially began to populate the Middle East. We’d slowly move into Africa over the next few thousand years. This was very late into the Pleistocene too. Oxygen levels were much lower by this point, so a lot of the megafauna became extinct. The Würm glaciation took place in this time, leading to the European Alps becoming glacial.

Virgo Quasar (3C 273)

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
A Hubble image of a supermassive black hole, or quasar called “Virgo Quasar 3C 273”. Photo Credit: ESA/Hubble/NASA

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Distance From Earth: 2.9 Billion Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Unknown

While some have called it the Virgo Quasar, astronomers and other scientists simply refer to it as 3C 273. This happens to be the first-ever quasar discovered. The discovery initially took place in the 1950s but would not be confirmed until the 1960s. A quasar is pretty interesting too. They are simply galactic nuclei powered by a black hole. It seems odd that we’d see anything near a black hole, but we did see 3C 273. It’s one of the brightest quasars ever discovered. Due to having a galactic nucleus, it is at least possible alien worlds are within it. However, the presence of a black hole may throw off timelines somewhat.

If alien worlds were looking at Earth from here, they’d see a very young planet. The first known continent formed around this time. That was not Pangea, as that was a supercontinent. We’re saying that this timeframe saw the first landmass continent, period. It is still debated what else took place at this time. Many scientists believe that oxygenic photosynthesis took place at this point. It’s interesting to note that photosynthetic life was retinal-based rather than chlorophyll-based. Thus, the Earth likely looked purple rather than blue and green during this time period.

Hoag’s Object

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
With a perfectly symmetrical ring circling a red sphere of stars, Hoag’s object is one of the prettiest mysteries in the universe. Photo Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Space Telescope

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Distance To Earth: 612.8 Million Lightyears
Number Of Stars: 8 Billion

Likely everyone by now knows about the unique Hoag’s Object. It is a galaxy unlike most that we’ve ever come across. Most astronomers have been amazed by it for years. While this is a ring galaxy or a galaxy with a circular appearance, we did not know much more upon its discovery in 1950. Found by Arthur Hoag, he could not decide if it was a planetary nebula or a peculiar galaxy. It’s kind of both, technically. We know this ring, which spans 100,000 lightyears, has roughly 8 billion stars within it. This almost ensures alien worlds are present, but they are over 600 million lightyears away from Earth.

If they saw Earth 600 million years ago, what would they see? Some of the first animals already formed. This came after millions of years being what is essentially a snowball Earth. Multi-celled animals began to flourish at this point, including worms and sponges. Taconic orogeny, or mountain building, began at this time in North America and did not end for another 200 million years. Plus, the Aravalli Range in India’s subcontinent also formed along with the Australian continent. Before Antarctica began to get cold, mountains began to form on its landmass during this time period as well.

Reticulum II 

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Image showing the newly-discovered dwarf galaxy Reticulum II. Photo Credit: Sergey E. Koposov/Dark Energy Survey

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Distance From Earth: 97,847 Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Unknown

Reticulum II is one of the few galaxies that are less than 100,000 lightyears from Earth. While scientists did not discover this dwarf galaxy until 2015, it’s actually a pretty old galaxy. It has been very hard to see, which is why it took analyzing images using the Dark Energy Survey. Initially, scientists believed it was a globular cluster but it was far too large for that. The galaxy contains both a blue horizontal and a red giant branch of stars. This means it likely has some very unusual elements and enrichment, as well as high radiation. Some think the uniqueness of the galaxy is due to the collision of two neutron stars.

It is unknown exactly how many stars this galaxy has, we have found five stars with confirmed planets. Thus, alien worlds could be present. It is a little over 97,000 lightyears from Earth. At this point, homo sapiens were beginning to populate the planet. A land bridge eventually formed from modern-day Siberia to Alaska, which resulted in early homo sapiens eventually traveling across it to become the Native Americans we know today. That land bridge went away, sadly. Meaning Native Americans would be isolated from the rest of the world, like indigenous people in Australia and New Zealand.

Medusa Merger Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
NGC 4194 is also known as the Medusa Merger Galaxy. Photo Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Adamo

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Distance To Earth: 130 million lightyears
Number Of Stars: 100 Billion+

Medusa Major is an interesting place in our universe. This is an area where there are several interacting galaxies. It is hard to keep up with them all so we won’t even go there. Over 500 lightyears of space exist in the center, often referred to as the Eye of Medusa. While it is the central, gas-rich region of Medusa Merger, it is also the place where extreme star formation has been taking place. That results in stars forming relatively close, making the local galaxies interact more.

With this area being 130 million lightyears from us, we know alien worlds will not see the best Earth possible. Yet they will see one in major development. This might be the Late Cretaceous period, but it’s geologically known as the Cenomanian. Around this point, an anoxic recent happened. That is a period in which a lot of the Earth’s oceans began to lose oxygen. Remember, water is H2O. Without oxygen, it is simply hydrogen and thus toxic. That led to a nearly worldwide extinction event for several aquatic/marine species. It is now referred to as the Cenomanian-Turonian Boundary Event.

Mayall’s Object 

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
This image shows galaxy Arp 148, captured by NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble telescopes, Also known as “Mayall’s Object. Photo Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble HLA

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Distance From Earth: 450 Million Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Classified As Emerging Galaxy (Star Number Uncertain)

A peculiar galaxy, Mayall’s Object is technically the result of two different galaxies colliding at some point within the Ursa Major constellation. It was discovered by Nicholas U. Mayall, resulting in its name. The galaxies that collided seemed to do a lot of damage. Since the galaxy is ring-shaped with a tail emerging, it is believed a shockwave must have taken place. That would have drawn matter into the center, leading to the emergence of the ring we see today. It is possibly one of the most beautiful collisions we’ve ever seen. Though uncertain, alien worlds are thought to be present here.

If so, they’d see the Earth 450 million years in its past. The Ordovician-Silurian Extinction took place at this point. Most then living marine species died out. Second, the Old Rest Sandstone Continent began to form. This came as a result of Baltica and Laurentia. While Baltica is merely a paleocontinent, Laurentia would go on to form most of the ancient geological core of North America. Laurentia was often its own continent or supercontinent. This led to run-ins with others. Thus, part of it would go on to form a large portion of Greenland and the northwestern portion of modern-day Scotland.

Ophiuchus Galaxy Cluster

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Ophiuchus Galaxy Cluster in the sky. Photo Credit: Sugrit Jiranarak/Shutterstock

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Distance From Earth: 390,000 Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Untold Millions (We’ve Seen 37 So Far)

The Ophiuchus Galaxy Cluster happens to form the far wall of the Ophiuchus Void. Although, it is also connected, at least in a filament, with both the Pavo-Indus-Telesopium and Hercules Superclusters too. It resides in the center of the cD cluster, which has roughly two more galaxy clusters and four more galaxy groups. Plus, several more field galaxies too. It is like they have teamed up to have their own United Federation of Planets! The cD Galaxy of NeVe 1 is a site in this supercluster that erupted, triggered by an ejection of ~270 million solar masses from the supermassive black hole in NeVe 1.

It is the largest explosion in the universe since the Big Bang, and opened up a 1.5 million lightyear wide cavity in the Ophiuchus Supercluster! This is scary to think about, as Ophiuchus is just 390,000 lightyears away. On Earth at that time, we saw the Hoxnian Interglacial period, which led to the true formation of the British Isles. Humans then began to settle there after a while. However, during this period in history, the Homo Sapien had not come about. Rather, it was our Neanderthal ancestors that popped up at this point.

Triangulum I Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
The Galaxy Triangulum I, the spiral galaxy 2.73 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. Photo Credit: Milosgagic/Shutterstock

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Distance From Earth: 3 Million Lightyears
Number Of Stars: 40 Billion

Among the “local group” of full galaxies, Triangulum I is the third largest. In fact, it is considered the furthest universal body that can be seen with the naked eye. Roughly 3 million lightyears away, it is believed to be one of Andromeda’s satellite galaxies. Yet some scientists think it’s actually coming out of a previous interaction with another galaxy. Then as it reached the massive Andromeda and its gravitational pull, it had no choice but to become a satellite. Interestingly, Triangulum I has an H II nucleus. Which is simply a nucleus made of ionized atomic hydrogen.

If alien worlds viewed Earth from here, they’d be seeing some changes. First, they would be seeing the North Pole start to become glacial. We’d also begin to see some animals pop up that are often assumed to be part of the dinosaurs. Species like the saber-toothed tiger and wooly mammoth were both common in this timeframe. Both even lived long enough to come in contact with early humans. Neither are dinosaurs, obviously, but they are still part of the prehistoric species list. Not only this, but other megafauna popped up in this time, including several much larger plants.

Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Canis major dwarf galaxy. Photo Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

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Distance From Earth: 25,000 Lightyears
Number Of Stars: 1 Billion

Noted as an irregular dwarf galaxy, many have disputed the idea of it holding the “galaxy” tag for a while. This is why some actually refuse to call it that and instead use the name “Canis Major Overdensity.” What everyone agrees on is that it possesses a ton of red giant stars. These stars are naturally in their latter lifecycle, meaning this area will eventually be home to a large percentage of supernovas or they could be hijacked by others, such as vampire stars. All in all, in spite of the red giant stars, Canis Major is home to roughly a billion stars.

It is also just about 25,000 lightyears away, making it very close to us. About 10,000 years before this is when our modern calendar takes place. It is also when the extinction of the Neanderthals came to pass. A few thousand years after this, the oldest cave paintings were traced back to. This is at least one of the last glacial periods, so alien worlds would likely see a cold planet but nothing compared to beforehand. While animal and society changes are incredibly different, this is the closest version of “Earth” itself that alien worlds could view.

Malin 1 Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
The low surface brightness Galaxy Malin 1 in the constellation Coma Berenices. Photo Credit: DESI Legacy Survey Data Release 10 (DR10)

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Distance From Earth: 1.19 Billion Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Unknown (Trillions Estimated)

Malin 1 is the largest spiral galaxy science has ever discovered as of this writing. We do not have a lot of information on the galaxy due to it being a little over one billion lightyears away from us. Most of our images are even blurred, making it hard to really get an idea about their star count. Due to the distance, the light it emits is not very bright. Weirdly, we assume the distance is the problem entirely. However, we’ve seen other galaxies just as far away that are much brighter. This is why some scientists naturally assume Malin 1 has a lot of older stars that are losing their luminosity.

If alien worlds in this galaxy looked at Earth, they might scoff a bit at what we looked like to them. The first known plants came to be just a few million years before the 1.19 billion mark. Shortly after, the first supercontinent, Rodinia, formed that would be huge for the development of future species. This means the landmass we’d later see, especially a lot of the glacial periods, has not happened yet. The Earth was still very much in a very hot, dense period. It would be another 200 million years before we saw the snowball Earth. Something almost opposite to the Earth from even 1 billion years ago.

Messier 87 Galaxy

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Messier 87 Black Hole. Photo Credit: Vadim Sadovski/Shutterstock

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Distance From Earth: 53 million Lightyears
Number Of Stars: 1 Trillion+

While Messier 87 is a supergiant galaxy with more than one trillion stars, it is seemingly in a backyard compared to the distance of other galaxies. It’s a little over 50 million lightyears from Earth. Which is pretty close compared to other galaxies out there. Scientists used this closeness to their advantage a short time ago. The galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center, like many other galaxies. Scientists managed to capture an image of this black hole, the very first image of a true black hole ever! Their black hole happens to be 6.5 billion times the mass of our sun, which is crazy to think about.

Being roughly 53 million lightyears from us, alien worlds present there would be seeing the Earth in one of its best periods of change. India collided with Asia, leading to the formation of the Himalayas. The Azolla Event happened around this time as well. This was a period in which freshwater fern Azolla bloomed in the Arctic Ocean. The Azolla sank to the seafloor, becoming incorporated in the sediment there. That led to carbon dioxide reducing, taking away the “Greenhouse Earth.” Palm Trees and amphibians could now properly live at the poles. However, the North and South Poles would turn glacial in the “Icehouse Earth.”

Cosmos Redshift 7

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
Artist’s impression shows Cosmos Redshift 7. Photo Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

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Distance From Earth: 12.9 Billion Lightyears
Number Of Stars: Unknown 

The Cosmos Redshift 7 Galaxy is one of the oldest galaxies astronomers have ever discovered. It is believed to have formed roughly 800 million years after the Big Bang took place. While it randomly got its name from soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo, the two do not really have anything in common except the number. CR7 is a high-redshift, Lyman-alpha emitter galaxy. In simple terms, this means it is a distant galaxy that emits Lyman-alpha radiation from neutral hydrogen. CR7 also increases the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation while reducing its frequency. All of this then combines with photon energy.

What would alien worlds see if they looked in our direction? While they might have advanced equipment that we could not fathom, if they did not get closer to us then they’d never know we existed. The Earth did not come about until just under 5 billion years ago. However, our entire solar system did not exist before that time roughly. If that is not enough for you, the entire Milky Way galaxy did not form until 14 billion years ago. Thus, CR7 worlds would be seeing a slowly forming galaxy that would not include us for over ten billion years!!

Butterfly Nebula

What Alien Worlds Actually See When They View Earth From Lightyears Away
The Butterfly Nebula. Photo Credit: Allexxandar/Shutterstock

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Distance From Earth: 3,000 to 6,000 Lightyears
Number Of Stars: 1

The Butterfly Nebula is technically within the Milky Way and not a galaxy unto itself. However, it almost seems like its own galaxy due to its appearance. Scientists claim it is the most complex planetary nebulae ever discovered. With only one central star, it has to emit extreme heat to allow for such beautiful light to be seen. It is estimated to be one of the hottest stars ever discovered, with a surface temperature of 250,000 degrees Celcius or 450,032 degrees Fahrenheit. The interesting part? The star is a White Dwarf! The Hubble Space Telescope discovered it in 2009, and scientists were blown away.

The possible alien worlds here are likely seeing a developed Earth being between 3,000 to 6,000 lightyears away. Societies had already formed, along with several languages on top of early writing. The Pyramid of Giza among other man-made structures from the old world was built in this period. While several periods such as the Bronze and Iron Age happened during this period, the planet itself did not change massively on a geological end. However, several animals popped up or went extinct in this timeframe. Mankind was also a bit smaller than it would go on to become.

Home Biology The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Biology By Joe Burgett -

Medical professionals such as surgeons and doctors are often excellent at their job. However, they are still human beings, and therefore, they can make mistakes. This might just be something random, like missing something on an x-ray. Yet it could also be an issue where they are a victim of the time they lived in. Either way, some of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions are often easy to mistake. Others, however, should not be messed up as easily.

What tends to happen is that a doctor might not see something very often and therefore does not know it well. For example, your average family medicine doctor is going to have a broad medical understanding. Yet we have specialists in specific areas that know areas of the body much more as it’s literally their job to know it. Thus, they might know more than your family medicine doc. However, even they make mistakes. We felt due to this, it would be good to discuss the most misdiagnosed medical conditions in history. Where we’ll explain how they were missed, as well as what docs assumed they were.

Appendicitis

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Photo of large intestine on woman body, appendix pain. Photo Credit: MBLifestyle/Shutterstock

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While one would assume missing appendicitis would be pretty difficult, it can happen. However, when doctors miss it, one could conclude that it is not truly their fault. Most who have appendicitis often do not know they have it. Yet most doctors can usually tell because the person will complain of pain in their lower right abdomen. Yet some have an appendix that points backward rather than forward.

This means their symptoms will end up being different, where they present pain elsewhere. Possibly in the bowels, but also in the upper abdomen in an area like the stomach. You could easily see how a doctor checking these areas might not assume it is an appendix problem. The real issue is that once the appendix bursts, their pain will be relieved. Therefore, some assume they are fine. However, this rupture is a life-threatening condition that can kill the person within 24 hours if not treated.

Parkinson’s Disease

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Parkinson’s disease text on a wooden table. Photo Credit: Jne Valokuvaus/Shutterstock

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Parkinson’s disease is sadly missed by many doctors initially. It makes sense, as it is certainly not a go-to condition that most medical professionals are going to consider. As many as 30% of all cases of this disease are missed, which is a pretty large number. Of course, Parkinson’s will be a life-long disease that will slowly progress and get worse. Most who deal with it will have stiffness issues, as well as unsteadiness and trembling. Naturally, this type of stuff can mirror other problems. In fact, it can closely relate to several neurological degenerative problems.

It is important to remember that we have been learning so much about this disease over the years. Medication is available now to help people deal with the symptoms, making it easier for people to live a close to normal life. Michael J. Fox, perhaps the most famous person with the disease, claimed he should have been fully disabled by now. Yet he still works often, goes to the store, and much more. Yet this is still one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions today, making it important to always get a second opinion if you’re unsure of a diagnosis.

Endometriosis

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Woman sitting close to her stomach because of abdominal pain and an X-ray film. Photo Credit: K.unshu/Shutterstock

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For those unaware of what endometriosis is, it happens to be a gynecological condition. The condition causes a woman’s endometrium (tissue that grows inside the uterus) to grow on the outside of their uterus. This can mean a woman’s ovaries, fallopian tubes, and tissue lining for the pelvis are all usually involved in this. Naturally, this is not a normal thing and is pretty rare for a woman to experience. The body was not made for such a thing, so the condition usually causes a woman to be in a lot of pain.

This means that the uterus tissue and materials can actually grow throughout the abdomen. You can easily see why there is so much pain involved. How could doctors possibly miss this? Many actually assume at first that the problem is just an unusually heavy period. Since periods involve cramping in the abdomen, the abdominal pain is not seen as abnormal either. This is likely why endometriosis is one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions. An ultrasound and laparoscopy test can confirm if you have it, which seems almost too simple.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Male having stomachache or IBD. Photo Credit: JARIRIYAWAT/Shutterstock

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Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBD is a very difficult issue to deal with. The real struggle with this disease, and why it is one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions, is pretty much due to a similar issue. Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS is a much more popular condition that affects the bowels too. Both are gastrointestinal issues but they differ in some distinct ways. IBS is merely a disorder of your gastrointestinal tract and could even have various causes. Importantly, IBS is usually a symptom of something else and not a disease itself.

IBD, on the other hand, is a disease. IBD causes the inflammation or destruction of the bowel wall. It can even lead to painful sores or narrowing in the intestines. Usually, one will only have IBD if they also have an autoimmune disorder like Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis. Yet it can occur without this too. It is just that both of those diseases caused inflammation of the intestines and bowels. While abdominal pain is the main issue with IBD, yet one could also deal with painful diarrhea and nausea. This often causes people to eat less or change their diet in a major way. Usually to avoid the pain caused by this disease.

Cluster Headaches

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Woman having cluster headache lying down. Photo Credit: Fizkes/Shutterstock

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Cluster headaches are incredibly painful and difficult to deal with. Those who have them have claimed they can come out of nowhere and it can feel like you’re just being shot in the head over and over. They do not work like regular headaches. Rather, they occur in cluster periods. Often, this is unpredictable and can wake you out of a deep sleep at night. Usually, they cause intense pain in or around one eye and/or one side of your head.

Normal headaches you could potentially get sleep and wake up to have. Also, most headaches tend to be caused by inflammation in the neck. Not cluster headaches, however. They might only last a few minutes but some can last to around three hours. The reason they are one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions might very well be due to the fact that they are headaches. Some assume it is a migraine issue while others might blame your sinuses. If you think you are having cluster headaches, it is best to visit a doctor that specializes in headaches. They can properly evaluate you to be sure.

Thyroid Conditions

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Doctor examining thyroid gland of patient. Photo Credit: Olena Yakobchuk/Shutterstock

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Thyroid conditions are perhaps the most overdiagnosed and misdiagnosed medical issues. To be fair to doctors, knowing if the thyroid is in a bad place can be difficult. Your thyroid happens to be a gland that is found in the neck. It rests between where your neck meets your chest and wraps around your esophagus. It is an incredibly important part of our body as it distributes hormones we crucially need for numerous bodily functions. You could have several conditions related to the thyroid. Things like hypothyroidism, which can be overactive or underactive, can cause various symptoms.

“Underactive” can cause you to deal with fatigue and weight gain while “overactive” causes weight loss along with irritability and a fast heartbeat. The issue is that thyroid problems can be misdiagnosed. Perhaps you were sick or went on a diet that changed your weight. If you do this, it changes your hormones too. Thus, your bloodwork might show that a thyroid problem is present when that is not the case. That means you have to wait for a bit to confirm that. This obviously puts people in a weird spot where hormones might be off for a bit, but they do not have any true thyroid issue… or they could. Difficult stuff, this.

Aortic Dissection

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
3D illustration of Aortic Dissection. Photo Credit: Sciencepics/Shutterstock

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Your aorta is a pretty important part of the body. It is the body’s main artery, as it carries blood away from the heart to the rest of the body. When it’s not working properly, your body is also going to be affected overall. There are times when something known as an aortic dissection takes place. This is a tear in the inner layer of the aorta. When this happens, blood will rush through the tear, thus causing the inner and middle layers of the aorta to split.

Naturally, if the blood ends up rushing through the outside aortic wall, it could end up killing you. This sounds like it could be a pretty obvious thing to search for, so how is it one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions? Somehow, it is missed in around 38% of those who are dealing with it. The assumption initially is that it’s a heart attack. While cardiologists may be able to spot the issue, many might go to the emergency room where they’d likely not assume such an issue. This is why you need to do an x-ray or CT scan to be sure

Lyme Disease

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Happy tick. Photo Credit: Photo Fun/Shutterstock

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For most, Lyme Disease is really odd. A lot of people do not know how a person even catches it. To be fair, it is pretty uncommon today for most people in developed nations. They used to be a huge issue before the early 1900s. Lyme Disease is spread by tick bites, as they can secrete a bacterium that develops into the disease. The most common symptoms of this disease are fatigue, headaches, and a fever. You might even develop a rash at the site of the tick bite.

You could see how commonplace this type of thing might be for sure. This is why it makes a lot of sense that this is one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions. How does one treat Lyme Disease? Antibiotics. Seriously, that is it. But before you treat a person with antibiotics, you need to have a solid reason to do so. After all, it is unlikely you’ll see a Lyme Disease patient as a doctor in most family medicine situations. This is why it is always good to get bloodwork so you at least rule stuff out first.

ADHD

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Boy with ADHD distracted. Photo Credit: M M Vieira/Shutterstock

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Not only is ADHD one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions, but it’s also the most overdiagnosed. How can that be though? Many parents and potentially even teachers do not know how to deal with a hyper child. Due to this, kids as young as five years old will be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. However, they may not have it at all. A young child is traditionally going to be hyper and a lot to deal with. You cannot truly know they are ADHD until later on.

This means doctors might put children on stimulants, which could actually affect the young child’s brain negatively. Sure, it might calm them down a bit – but that’s a horrible compromise. A child might have other brain disorders that are being ignored, which can present in similar ways. People assume a lack of focus or being in your own little world sometimes is exclusive to ADHD people. Yet that cannot be further from the truth. In fact, it could be that a child is just being a child too.

Stroke

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Scientific medical illustration of human brain stroke illustration. Photo Credit: Piyaphat_Detbun/Shutterstock

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A stroke is an incredibly dangerous, life-threatening condition. People not only need to be seen by a doctor immediately, but every second truly counts here. Many stroke victims can avoid life-altering issues if they are seen within a few hours of the stroke taking place. Many assume a stroke is just like a heart attack, which is neither wrong nor completely true. They can appear to be very similar. Yet a stroke happens when the blood supply to your brain is blocked or interrupted. This cuts off needed oxygen and nutrients, and your brain cells will begin to die off in minutes.

Since this blood comes from the heart, there could be a blockage that is affecting both of them. Thus, why they can appear like a heart attack. A common issue for most stroke victims is the appearance of snoring when they are not doing that at all. As many as 10% of all strokes are misdiagnosed in emergency rooms across the United States. This seems to happen a lot more to younger people and women, with some doctors assuming the issue is a migraine or even vertigo. Always remember FAST: facial drooping, arm weakness, or speech difficulties always means it’s time to call 911. This could literally save a life.

Fibromyalgia

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Body joint pain, Fibromyalgia concept. Photo Credit: Lightspring/Shutterstock

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Perhaps one of the single hardest medical conditions to diagnose, fibromyalgia is known as a disease that causes “invisible pain.” Not that the pain is not real, but that you cannot see why it exists on any scan. On top of this, it can be hard to tell with bloodwork too. The assumption is that the pain someone is dealing with might be, after ruling out things like breaks or fractures, something like rheumatoid arthritis. To test for this, bloodwork will be done to check your “RA Factor.”

For many with Fibro, it can come back positive one day, yet negative the next. Secondary testing might result in the same issue too. This is why it takes many years for people with fibromyalgia to even know they have it. Even if they suggest it to their doctor, most medical professionals still want to rule out other things first. That is why it is one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions known. People live with this pain for several years, and we need to be better about diagnosing this.

Bipolar Disorder

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Woman with Bipolar Disorder. Photo Credit: Image Point Fr/Shutterstock

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Bipolar Disorder is potentially the most misdiagnosed psychological disorder. First, some doctors assume a person has it when they have something incredibly different. Yet more often than not, doctors will assume something else other than bipolar disorder. The issue is that bipolar disorder has symptoms that can mimic those from other diseases. Usually, those who have it will have extreme mood swings, which could include emotional highs and very big lows.

There is a reason we once called it “manic depression.” Being bipolar can make someone appear crazy when they aren’t. Yet it is often misdiagnosed, with some doctors assuming random problems like autoimmune disorders and even HIV at times. More common stuff might be ADHD or standard depression, which can at least make more sense. Nearly 70% of all bipolar people are misdiagnosed initially. As many as one-third of those people will remain misdiagnosed for up to a decade or longer!

Celiac Disease

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Woman saying no thanks to gluten toast, which can induce celiac disease. Photo Credit: Dragana Gordic/Shutterstock

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Another addition to the understandable miss list, Celiac Disease is an autoimmune condition that causes the body to attack its small intestine. This happens as a response to gluten within wheat products. Doctors will never assume this condition immediately because it is simply not very common to see. While completely understandable, the University of Chicago has found as many as 97% of people with celiac disease are misdiagnosed.

Becoming one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions like this is not shocking. Assuming someone has an issue with gluten can only be found through first testing numerous other things first. You’ll finally end up there. How do people find out that they have it? Typically, a blood test can be done to test for specific antibodies. If those are present, that can mean you have the disease. Now, all you need to do is have a gluten-free diet for the rest of your life. Pretty easy, right? Wrong! You might be surprised just how much stuff has some form of gluten in it.

Multiple Sclerosis

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Multiple sclerosis nerve disorder and damaged myelin. Photo Credit: Lightspring/Shutterstock

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Truly, this might be misdiagnosed because doctors simply do not want to believe a person has this condition. Multiple Sclerosis is a terrible disorder. Your body quite literally is destroying itself. Essentially, your immune system will begin to eat away at all your nerve’s protective coverings. Nerve damage will begin, and communication between the brain and body will be disrupted. You might see several symptoms at first such as pain and fatigue, but then you might also have coordination issues too. MS is degenerative, and a person will slowly begin to develop numerous issues.

While we now have medication to help slow the progression of this terrible disease, it is not perfect. Time is also of the essence to diagnose it. Yet 1 in 5 MS patients are misdiagnosed. While many doctors will believe it is an autoimmune disorder due to test results, this is not the case. Yet some doctors are way off, assuming the person just has migraines or basic nerve damage, even a vitamin B-12 deficiency. While this is one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions, we also have to be slightly understanding. Doctors will rarely jump to assume a person has MS. Plus, incorrect treatment for it is quite dangerous.

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or PCOS. Photo Credit: Rumruay/Shutterstock

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Most know about the pain that comes with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, but it is likely you are unaware of how often it is missed by doctors. It might sound crazy that one could miss this, as the condition literally means cysts are growing on a woman’s ovaries. Not only does this lead to infertility for the women who have them, but it is pretty painful. A scan could literally prove they are present but it is unlikely a doctor will think to do this right away. Most of the time, a doctor like a gynecologist will do an examination of the vagina and even get some bloodwork. These tests/exams do not often prove a woman has PCOS.

Roughly 18% of women are misdiagnosed. A study published in March 2019 proved this and even found that nearly half of all women with PCOS visited three or more doctors before getting this diagnosis, which took several around 2 years to do. Being one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions makes sense here because PCOS is relatively rare. However, symptoms can often give doctors a reason to confirm if cysts are present. If you see something like excess hair growth, unexplained weight gain, abnormal mood changes, and obviously fertility issues, you could have it.

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Medical illustration of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Photo Credit: Chu KyungMin/Shutterstock

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It is possible that you may have never even heard of thoracic outlet syndrome, and most would not blame you for that. In fact, outside a medical student or doctor (or random writer), the only people who know of it are those who have had it. This syndrome affects the space between your collarbone and first rib, known as the thoracic outlet. There could be many causes for it, including but not limited to pregnancy, repeat injuries to the ribs, anatomical defects, and much more.

Those with it will experience a good bit of pain in the shoulders and neck. Yet one might also experience random numbness and weakness in these areas or other parts of the body. Surgery is sometimes needed to relieve compression, but most treatments will be basic pain relievers or physical therapy. As one could assume, it is unlikely a doctor will assume this right away, especially a family medicine doctor. Usually, the way to find out if one has it will be by ruling out pretty much everything else first. Scans can sometimes show things too, as well as nerve conduction studies.

Migraine

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Man suffering from strong headache or migraine. Photo Credit: Fizkes/Shutterstock

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Those with chronic or even occasional migraine problems will likely have stories about how their doctor did not exactly take these migraines seriously. While the medical world is getting a lot better in this area, that was not always the case. To be fair, headaches can have several root causes. Most headaches begin as a result of neck problems so that among other musculoskeletal issues could be a reason. Sinus problems can also cause headaches along with fevers and other sicknesses.

Even not eating enough or drinking enough fluids can cause headaches too. Stress, eye problems, depression, and much more could also be involved here. As you can tell, assuming something is simply a migraine is not an easy diagnosis. Thus, why migraines are one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions on the planet. Migraines are headaches that throb or pulse, and are isolated to one part of the head. Full neurological exams, even scans, can prove one has migraine problems.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Woman holding her painful wrist. Photo Credit: Siam Pukkato/Shutterstock

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While one would assume that something like carpal tunnel syndrome could be easily diagnosed, that is not true at all. Why is that? A lot of the time, unless something is broken or fractured, assuming carpal tunnel is the diagnosis can be hard. This is likely due to all the problems that come with it. For example, many will report tingling, burning pain, especially at the thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers. Sometimes, occasional shock-like sensations will hit there too. Yet a lot of people also have pain or tingling that can travel up to the shoulder.

Doctors would naturally assume you have a shoulder and even forearm problem initially. In total, carpal tunnel is misdiagnosed as much as 83% of the time according to the National Institutes of Health. Doctors might assume after scans come back to rule out the shoulder and forearm, you could have a wrist issue. Yet that might not be carpal tunnel, but rather, something like wrist flexor tendinitis. This is far more common, and treatment for it can be quite similar to carpal tunnel treatments. Yet those with severe cases will need to likely have surgery. Thus, this treatment won’t be as effective.

Heart Attacks

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Young man having a heart attack. Photo Credit: P.KASIPAT/Shutterstock

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One would assume that any doctor could tell when a person is having a heart attack or had one. Yet this is based on assumed issues surrounding the human heart and heart attacks. Most symptoms of a heart attack could be misidentified as something mild, like indigestion, acid reflux, or even a panic attack. Chest pain also has several possible causes such as back problems, lung issues, and much more. Some people do not even report the classically assumed heart attack problems. Men tend to show more common heart attack problems, like chest palpitations, arm pain, stomach pain, nausea, etc.

Yet women may not show any of these. Comparing men and women when seeing doctors who did not find their pain to be heart-related when it was, 37% of men were misdiagnosed while 53% of women were. This could be due to women often reporting things like tooth or jaw pain, even shoulder or back problems. We now know discomfort in areas away from the chest can be heart-related, causing issues like this to improve. For now, though, heart attacks are one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Woman lying on bed feeling chronic fatigue syndrome. Photo Credit: Maridav/Shutterstock

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Truly, this has to be one of the most difficult conditions for any doctor to diagnose. We all get tired, and pretty much any sickness or long-term disorder can cause people to feel like they are fatigued all the time. For doctors to diagnose this, they have to likely rule out a ton of things. Thus, this is easily one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions in the world. Those who show fatigue for over six months, with sleep never improving the problem, likely have it.

Yet feeling tired isn’t the only problem. You could also experience sleep problems and pain. When the body feels tired, it tends to feel pain it otherwise would not. While women seem to deal with this far more than men, there is no root cause for it. Some psychologists have assumed that environmental factors could be to blame. Yet medical doctors often feel there is a genetic component. Things like fibromyalgia can mirror CFS, among other conditions. Therefore, it can take quite a while to diagnose people with it. This could be why as many as 90% are misdiagnosed who have it.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
The difference between rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Photo Credit: Olga Bolbot/Shutterstock

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Anyone currently dealing with rheumatoid arthritis will likely tell you how long it took for them to finally be diagnosed. It is technically an autoimmune disorder but operates a bit differently compared to others. Like them, the body seems to misunderstand what is going on inside of it. Thus, the immune system will attack its own tissue and joints. In some of the worst cases, RA will even attack internal organs. People with RA will have painful swelling, as it affects the joint linings. Long-term, the inflammation caused by RA will cause bone erosion and even deformity of the joints.

Medication exists to help those with RA manage the symptoms, but there is no cure as of this writing. A lot of doctors misdiagnose it for other issues like fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, simple arthritis, and much more. In a study conducted using data from the Columbia Medical Center regarding 4,780 patients, 1,875 were misdiagnosed. This is just shy of 40% of those patients. Among them, 26.5% were men while 73.5% were women. This proves RA seems to be harder to diagnose among women. Regardless of who, it is clearly one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions currently.

Depression

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Depressed boy sitting alone in dark. Photo Credit: Aonprom Photo/Shutterstock

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To be fair to doctors, properly diagnosing depression is far better than it used to be. We now know more signs of chronic depression, and we can even do bloodwork to check for problems related to depression. Seratonin levels tend to be low among most with regular, chronic depression. Yet that is not uniform, as some might have it without this. On top of that, most doctors (even in family medicine) do not tend to ask about a person’s mood when they come in for a visit.

Without this knowledge, doctors could be missing something quite important. On top of this, physical problems can come from depression, such as fatigue, headaches, bodily pain, as well as stuff like loss of appetite. Some might also have stress or anxiety issues, making doctors erroneously assume these are the prime issues and not depression. Plus, there are various levels of depression that are not always easy to identify. Thankfully, errors like this are being fixed in the medical community.

Pulmonary Embolism

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Pulmonary Embolism with a blood clot is a disease with a blockage of an artery in the lungs. Photo Credit: Lightspring/Shutterstock

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A pulmonary embolism is a blood clot that gets lodged within one or both lungs. It will block off blood flow and oxygen, putting the person at risk for long-term damage and even possible death. Usually, the cause for this comes from deep vein thrombosis breaking free from a blood clot in the leg. The thing is, a lot of the symptoms of this ordeal seem to mirror those of possible heart problems. Shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, dizziness, etc. are all heart condition issues too.

Since the blood clot originally begins in the leg, you will likely experience leg pain and swelling well beforehand. This is good for doctors to take a look at alone, so it could save your life to get it checked out before the pulmonary embolism issue even becomes an issue. Without this aid, to begin with, at least 1 in 3 cases of PE are missed. The medical community does need to be better but we can do better as patients by alerting them to things like that leg issue we referenced.

Lupus

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Young man is sick systemic lupus erythematosus. Photo Credit: Velimir Zeland/Shutterstock

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If you ask Dr. Greg House, it is NEVER lupus. This is a running joke in the House television show because lupus has been known to be given as a possible diagnosis for several things. Yet, for some reason, it is missed quite often among those who actually have it. Lupus tends to present like several other autoimmune disorders. Usually, those who have it will have a lot of inflammation in their body that will cause joint pain. The severity differs among all who have it. Lupus can also do damage to the kidneys, lungs, and even the heart. Most who have it will tend to have a butterfly-shaped rash on their face cheeks.

That makes one wonder, with such a sign, how is this one of the most misdiagnosed medical conditions? It is possibly due to not noticing the cheeks, but also assuming it is caused by something else. In a study conducted by the Lupus Foundation of America, roughly 46.5% of people with lupus are misdiagnosed. In their study, they found that over 50% were told that nothing was physically wrong with them, and it was all in their mind. Thus, a possible psychological condition. That is weird to hear too, as x-rays and blood tests could give those doctors a reason to second-guess that assumption.

Borderline Personality Disorder

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
Woman with borderline personality disorder. Photo Credit: Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

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We wish we could tell you an accurate, exact number of those that are currently misdiagnosed yet have this condition. Yet one of the hallmarks of borderline personality disorder is that many do not realize that they have it at all. Many are diagnosed with other mental disorders more often first. Usually, something like bipolar disorder presents in almost the exact same way with a few exceptions. Of course, bipolar disorder mostly affects your mood, causing sometimes wild swings between them. Yet BPD affects how you think and feel about yourself as well as others.

This causes a huge problem that can make one have self-image problems, emotional issues, unstable relationships, and behavioral challenges. Mood issues can make one think bad about themselves too. Both even cause depression and anxiety issues. Thus, it is easy to confuse them. Several studies have been conducted on BPD, but most tend to find that roughly 40% of people were misdiagnosed at some point in their life. However, as high as 10% of the general population are misdiagnosed with BPD when they do not have it.

Cancer

The Most Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions In Scientific History
3D illustration of cancer cells. Photo Credit: Crystal Light/Shutterstock

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To be fair to doctors, it is clear that assuming cancer the moment you see a patient is idiotic and terrible for any doctor to think at first. Unless someone has an obvious tumor or something that pops up on a scan, you need a lot of tests to confirm cancer for people. This is why doctors, especially family medicine or urgent care medical professionals, will likely treat the symptoms you’re experiencing. A lot of the issues cancer causes can mask as viruses or bacterial infections.

For example, bladder cancer might present as a standard UTI at first. Yet even if you get past this stage, and see a cancer specialist known as an Oncologist, misdiagnoses happen. According to a 2012 study by the Journal of Clinical Oncology, roughly 44% of the time, these doctors will misdiagnose the type of cancer you might have. Yet normal doctors will rarely think cancer-first like oncologists. They’ll assume a sinus infection rather than brain cancer.

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