Luinean - Lámhfhada

Ralph Fleck (German, 1951), Stapel 27/VII [Stack 27/VII], 2013. Oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm.

Mekheski - Moon People, 1915

Flying Dream, Queens, 1971

Arthur Tress

Edward Robert Hughes, Night with her Train of Stars

Paul Cupido

Over Oceans, 2021

Green Pan and Black Bottle

Picasso, 1908

PJ Harvey photographed by Michael Lavine - 1995

Photograph by Sayaka Maruyama

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

Sadder than a single star that sets at twilight in a land of reeds, Sydney Long, 1899