✞ 666 ✞

Hermann David Salomon Corrodi(1844-1905),

Passage of the Monks to Mount Athos Monastery, 1905

Fantastic to Feel Beautiful Again, Tracey Emin, 1997

Neon and plexiglass 116.8 x 132 cm (46 x 52 in.)

It is easy to create an interstellar radio message which can be recognized as emanating unambiguously from intelligent beings. A modulated signal (‘beep,’ ‘beep-beep,’ . . . ) comprising the numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, for example, consists exclusively of the first 12 prime numbers—that is, numbers that can be divided only by 1, or by themselves. A signal of this kind, based on a simple mathematical concept, could only have a biological origin. . . . but by far the most promising method is to send pictures.

Dr Prof Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan also wrote under the pseudonym Mr X

Mermaid

RockyMeng-JUMOStudio

Green Pan and Black Bottle

Picasso, 1908

Night at Sea (Marcus Larson, 1858)

a study of the moon