(NewsNation) — A Kentucky tourist board is seeking to expand the state’s reach and entice astral visitors.
The Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau’s new campaign targets extraterrestrial tourists — just in case aliens do exist.
VisitLEX teamed up with a group of scientists and scholars in the Bluegrass State to target the star TRAPPIST-1, which is found 40 light years away from our planet, by sending infrared signals containing binary code, according to a press release.
This solar system was chosen as it’s the most studied planetary system outside of our own and contains the largest number of potentially habitable Earth-sized planets, according to the release.
The group came up with the idea to capitalize on the interest in UFOs and space travel amid last year’s congressional hearings on the subject.
“A lot of people think Kentucky is a flyover state, and it’s nice to give them the impression that maybe we’re not… and that Earth is not a flyover planet,” Robert Lodder, a professor of chemistry at the University of Kentucky who consulted on the project, told The Washington Post.
The message was sent from the Kentucky Horse Park and intended to invite any potential extraterrestrial travelers to Lexington.
The FAA approved the message, which contains a range of photos of Lexington, an audio recording of blues musician Tee Dee Young, the elements of bourbon, and a coded bitmap image of the origin and intent of the transmission.
“We believe Lexington is the best place on Earth,” said VisitLEX President Mary Quinn Ramer. “It’s the ideal location for extraterrestrial travelers to begin exploring our world.”
However, the message won’t reach its destination immediately. It will take around 40 years for to reach its target, and at least another 40 years to receive a response, according to the press release.
Human tourists are invited to visit artifacts from the historic message-beaming event and leave a note for the aliens if and when they visit Kentucky.