Alien tourists

It's 40 light years away, which means it'll take the message 40 years to travel to that solar system.

It's still recovering, but it's almost back to pre-COVID levels.

Scientists have observed planets that could potentially support life.

The tourism industry took a big hit with the COVID-19 pandemic, with everything being shut down. It's still  recovering, but it's almost back to pre-COVID levels;  last year (2022), in the U.S., the GDP from tourism was 2.02 trillion dollars, which is close to what they made in 2019, before the pandemic. 

So, with tourism rebounding, we're seeing some interesting new marketing strategies from different places. One marketing strategy that I read about is very unique. Lexington, Kentucky, is a small city in the United States. It's known for its horse farms – it's called the horse capital of the world. It's also known for its fine whisky, and its beautiful nature. It's ranked number 34 on the list of best U.S. cities to live in. And tourism is a big part of its economy.

Anyway, here's their newest marketing strategy: interstellar advertisements. Yeah, sending advertisements to other solar systems. They created this message, talking about their horses, and places to shop, and they used a laser beam to shoot the message into space. But they didn't just shoot it in a random direction; they aimed it at the TRAPPIST-1 solar system. This is a solar system 40 light years away from us, where scientists have observed planets that could potentially support life. 

It's 40 light years away, which means it'll take the message 40 years to travel to that solar system, since lasers travel at the speed of light. So, if there are aliens there who see the message and are able to decode it, and send a reply using their own laser, we might hear from them in 80 years. It's a long shot. 

But this is a nice publicity stunt – even if no aliens visit, they generated a lot of news coverage for Lexington, KY, for humans. Which was their main goal, of course. I really didn't know anything about Lexington before I read this story, but it does look like a beautiful place to visit. So,  I think whoever did this marketing campaign for them definitely earned their money.

Listening Homework |
by Homework Cat

Listening Homework
by Homework Cat

Warmup

What is Lexington known for?