As a friendly, progressive city that’s home to two universities, Lexington, KY defies the stereotypes often associated with the state. VisitLEX, the city’s tourism board, seeks to shift perceptions and raise awareness of this often overlooked but unexpectedly cool destination.

Recent UFO revelations and advances in deep space imaging have fueled the belief that we are not alone in the universe. So along with VisitLEX, we assembled a team of local scientists and scholars to devise the first-ever travel advertisement targeting extraterrestrial intelligence. The message? Visit Lexington, the best place on Earth.

Experts in linguistics, computer engineering, philosophy, and science fiction designed the message. Contents of the message included four grayscale images representing life in Lexington, an audio recording from legendary blues musician Tee Dee Young, and a coded bitmap image containing clues to the origin and intent of the transmission.

Using a powerful infrared laser, VisitLEX beamed its ad toward the TRAPPIST-1 system 40 light years away. The message was transmitted during a “Welcome Party” event at the Kentucky Horse Park.

While it may take over 80 years to receive any interstellar RSVPs, earthly travelers can explore The Extraterrestrial’s Guide to Lexington on VisitLEX.com and even leave their own welcome messages, which will be preserved in a time capsule until aliens arrive in the not-too-distant future.