'Ideal for extraterrestrial travelers:' Kentucky city beams tourism pitch to distant planets

First it was MoonPie attempting to lure extraterrestrials to Earth with the promise of a tasty treat. Now, it's the self-styled "horse capital of the world" that aims to attract the attention of interstellar travelers.

Lexington's visitor's and tourism bureau is hoping that its new advertising campaign will convince extraterrestrials to see the Kentucky city as an ideal getaway for a relaxing vacation. With the help of scientists and scholars, VisitLex recently beamed an interstellar travel ad into space inviting aliens to hop on their flying saucers for a quick 235 trillion-mile trip to planet Earth.

"We believe Lexington is the best place on Earth,” VisitLEX President Mary Quinn Ramer said in a statement. "It’s the ideal location for extraterrestrial travelers to begin exploring our world.”

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Team beams Lexington invitation to faraway TRAPPIST-1 solar system

The message beamed into the stars with a modified infrared laser invited aliens to come enjoy the city’s iconic bluegrass fields, bourbon and blues music.

After receiving approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, VisitLex convened a gathering at the famed Kentucky Horse Park so that the public could watch as the team of experts sent what very well could be the first message an extraterrestrial species receives from us Earthlings.

The unusual campaign may sound like all fun and games, but the otherworldly tourism outreach was crafted based on research of potentially habitable planets. Robert Lodder  a professor of chemistry at the University of Kentucky, consulted with experts in engineering, digital media, linguistics, philosophy and science fiction on how best to market Lexington to extraterrestrials.

Together, the experts decided to aim the laser beam at TRAPPIST-1, a red dwarf star in the constellation Aquarius with a system of seven known planets. Located 40 light years away, the star's solar system may be close enough to hear human broadcasts.

The star was chosen because of the large number of exoplanets around it that reside in what scientists call the habitable zone where liquid water could potentially pool on the surface of a rocky planet.

"We might actually get an answer in somebody's lifetime if there's somebody there watching," Lodder said in a promotional video. "There could be life there, so why not send a signal and see if they answer?"

Message carries photos of Lexington, molecules for bourbon

The message contains a bitmap key with symbols representing a sequence of prime numbers proving it originated from an intelligent civilization.

The team also included chemical symbols of water, ethanol and dopamine to showcase that, well, Lexington is filled with bourbon and happiness (Hey, it is a tourism campaign, after all.)

If aliens can't interpret the molecular structure for the alcoholic beverage, perhaps the images underneath them of horses, rolling grass fields and a grid spelling out the city's invitation will make it clear just what Lexington has to offer. VisitLex even included a short music recording from Lexington blues musician Tee Dee Young for good measure.

Public interest in UFOs has been growing

Lexington’s tourism officials hatched the advertising scheme as a way to capitalize on the mounting public interest around UFOs and extraterrestrials ever since Congress' latest foray into the topic.

Featuring testimony from three military officials, the July hearing about strange objects in military airspace and an alleged clandestine Pentagon program to retrieve downed spaceships has already sparked legislation aimed at curtailing government secrecy around the issue.

Even NASA released a report pledging to continue studying the phenomena, though its leaders insisted that no evidence yet supports the theory that the crafts are extraterrestrial in origin.

Perhaps that's why no unusual activity has yet been reported in the skies above Lexington.

But as Lexington says in its promotional video: "We'll be waiting."

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com