Renaming the Very Large Array 176
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the how-about-the-really-big-array dept.
from the how-about-the-really-big-array dept.
New submitter mercurywoodrose writes "To commemorate a decade-long electronics upgrade, the Very Large Array in New Mexico is up for renaming. Submissions may be made at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's website until December 1."
BART (Score:5, Funny)
Big Ass Radio Telescope ?
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How about "The Still Very Large Array"?
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Very Large Array of Dishes Teleoperated Happily Expecting Important Measurements Predicting Alien Language Expressive Radios
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Or simply: Large Array of Radio Telescopes. :-)
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Whoosh yourself.
Large
Array of
Radio
Telescopes
-> LART
Get it now?
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As a big fan and visitor of the VLA, I actually approve of this.
BFA 9000 (Score:5, Funny)
Modify it a bit to BFA 9000
Special High Intensity Telescope (Score:3)
Call it SHIT if you want, just don't cut the fucking budget!
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Call it SHIT if you want, just don't cut the fucking budget!
They have a separate budget for fucking? :-)
Name it "Mr. Johnson" (Score:2)
Or "John Holmes".
How about Sagan (Score:5, Insightful)
In Honor of Carl Sagan, the writer of Contact , and a populiser of astronomy
Re:How about Sagan (Score:5, Funny)
Voila (Score:2)
Very Old Interstellar Large Array.
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They should just do like most Universities do with their buildings, have a reverse auction and rename the array, every couple of years.
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Butthead Astronomer Telescope. I like it. BAT it is.
How about the Beavis Astronomer Telescope?
Re:How about Sagan (Score:4, Insightful)
In Contact, the facility Ellie was at when The Message started arriving was called the Argus Array. Then when they made the movie, they actually used the VLA and called it the VLA. So why not make life imitate art and go with the Argus Array.
-Ster
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Oh, and the Argus Array in the book was located outside Socorro, New Mexico. Guess where the VLA is located?
-Ster
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Along those lines, I submitted Sagan Array.
Most comments will be- (Score:4, Interesting)
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Well, less than and greater than signs are done with < (<) and > (>).
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Oh, and don't forget to proofread! :-)
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How 'bout "Very Large Array"?
FVLA? (Score:3)
Formerly Very Large Array?
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The Array Formerly Known as the Very Large Array.
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The Even Larger Array?
From the article, there are no more dishes than before, and they aren't any bigger, they are just more sensetive. The "Just as Large Array"?
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Ta Ta Away From Keyboard At The Very Large Array.
Yup, that ought to motivate the local Congressman to fund the project!
I propose... (Score:2, Funny)
int *A = malloc(SIZE_MAX);
1 question (Score:1)
Why on earth? And also in the universe?
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Why on earth? And also in the universe?
While that's certainly an interesting name, I don't think it would be very good marketing. :-)
(BTW those are two questions!)
Charity (Score:5, Insightful)
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I suspect that big money can be made ...
Only if you get the scaling factor on your printing press wrong!
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I was thinking along the same lines. What is wrong with "The MetLife VLA" or "The Microsoft VLA" ? It is worth more than first blush when you consider that the name will be registered and trademarked so that news stories and other publications need to reference the whole name.
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Same reason we don't call that 5-sided building in Virginia "The Lockheed Martin Military Complex."
Viagra Very Large... (Score:2)
SCAT (Score:2)
Super
Colossal
Alien
Tracker
The COLBERT array. (Score:2)
OK I haven't thought of what the acronym means yet but you can bet that the Colbert Nation is hard at work submitting recommendations.
Completely "Oldstuff Left Behind" Enhanced Radio Telescope
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Colossally Oversized, Ludicrously Big Effin' Radio Telescope.
Re:The COLBERT array. (Score:5, Funny)
How about "Configurable Observatory of Large Baseline Enhanced Radio Telescopes"
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You're right, I have submitted it to the Colbert Nation show suggestions forum. Hopefully someone from the show will see it and pick up the campaign!
http://forums.colbertnation.com/?page=ThreadView&thread_id=29223 [colbertnation.com]
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Make that the "Stephen Colbert Doritos Fiery Fusion Sizzlin' Cayenne & Cheese washed down with a Dr. Pepper" large array and I'll vote for it.
What about ... (Score:1, Funny)
VLA 2.0? :-)
Obviously. (Score:1)
Dis Array.
Hmm (Score:2)
The Array Formerly Known as Very Large Array
Legendarray (see what I did there?)
Homage to Fermi (Score:3)
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"Where are they?"
Get out now - the signal's coming from your own planet!
Tip a hat to Slashdot (Score:4, Funny)
IABCOD "Imagine a Beowulf cluster of dishes!"
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IABCOD "Imagine a Beowulf cluster of dishes!"
Might as well get a few more of them out there:
The BIG (Beaming Intergalactic Goatse) Array
27 Dishes of Hot Grits
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In Korea, only old people die! No, wait...
I know! (Score:4, Funny)
Some perspective is in order. (Score:3)
SOAP (Score:2)
Re:Some perspective is in order. (Score:4, Funny)
If that naming convention is going to be continued, each generation should at least sound bigger than the previous. To my ear, "Pretty Big Array" does not sound quite as big as "Very Large Array" (I'm not a native english speaker so I could be wrong). Anyway, its probably better to ditch this naming convention as you will end up in stupid names in relatively short time. For example, in few generations you could end up with something like "Ridiculously Oversized Array"
But that was my whole point. We should start back a ways. Otherwise, we'll end up having "The Very Very Large Array", "The Even Larger Array", "Yet Another Extremely Sizable Array", and "Jesus Christ! Would You Look At That Array!"
I think if we back up a bit, and start small, it will give us more room to grow.
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I think the current record in size naming is Overwhelmingly Large. [wikimedia.org] However that's for optical telescopes.
How bout what it really is... (Score:1)
Future budget cut.
Too easy. (Score:1)
Do new names really stick? (Score:5, Insightful)
Astronomer 1: did you see what "insert new name here" found?
Astronomer 2: "new name"??
Astronomer 1: The Very Large Array..
Astronomer 2: Oh yeah, they changed the name. Go on.
Old names have a tendency to stick around in proportion to how long they were used. Since the Very Large Array has been around for a while the name will probably be around for a while more.
Another issue is that researchers could be confused when the same piece of scientific gear is referred to by more than one name. It would be easy to miss the fact that the Very Large Array and "insert new name here" are actually the same piece of equipment.
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Further, wouldn't changing the name necessitate a potentially costly update of all the signage? Surely that's money better spent doing, I don't know, something useful?
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It has nothing to do with smarts. The issue is that there is a relation between the current facility and the name people carry around in their heads. In almost all cases, and particularly in people with Asperger Syndrome, this is a one to one relationship; one facility, one name. Now the same facility will have two names; the one in literature written before the change and one in the literature after the change. These new relationships can be difficult to deal with.
I have Aspergers. A new building was built
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Forgetfulness is certainly one aspect, but spite is another. That's how it goes with the Sears Tower. It hasn't been named that for years, but it's still what almost everybody around here calls it -- including some professional publications. We just sort of pretend the name change never happened.
That's especially likely in this case if the name or the acronym turn out to be especially obnoxious to say.
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Another issue is that researchers could be confused when the same piece of scientific gear is referred to by more than one name. It would be easy to miss the fact that the Very Large Array and "insert new name here" are actually the same piece of equipment.
On the other hand, this name change follows a significant upgrade to the VLA's equipment. Having a different name provides an easy way to tell the difference.
Something like how we change the name of software when there's significant changes. "XP, Vista, 7" ... I don't hear anybody getting confused about those. By that respect, a name change for the VLA might even be welcome.
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Sorry but the facility does exactly the same thing it did before the upgrade; it just does it more accurately, faster and with better communications to off site computers.
If size is so important... (Score:4, Funny)
If this size-based naming goes much further we're going to end up with telescopes with names like The Bigger Than The Very Large Array But Not As Big As The Extremely Large Array Array...
Or they could just admit to their resolution envy and call it the Particularly Enormous Network of Interferometric Sensors.
It's not my fault! (Score:2)
The "Big-Boned" Array.
or
The "Husky" Array
or
The "Once You Go Very Large Array, You Never Go Back" Array
or
Array con Pollo (wait, never mind about this one, I'm just hungry.)
or
Uncle Bob
stolen from fark.com... (Score:2)
IMO the best new name for the array is Leon [youtube.com].
People (Score:4, Insightful)
How about naming it after one of the pioneers of radio astronomy?
- Karl Jansky, first to realize that there were radio waves coming from space
- Grote Reber, first to build a radio telescope
- Sir Martin Ryle, who came up with radio interferometry (although he's already had a radio telescope named after him)
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Reber would be an interesting choice given the current name. "Grote" is Dutch for "large".
Big Brother (Score:2)
Slatibarfast (Score:1)
Obviously.
We all know how this will end up... (Score:2)
GINVLA (Score:1)
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GINGAVITIS?
Gigantic Interstellar, New Ginormous Asynchronous, Very Integral Telescope Is Sequential...?
How about... (Score:2)
the "My God It's Huge Array"?
Stephen Colbert Very Large Array (Score:1)
The Ritchie Array... (Score:3)
Something should be named after Dennis Ritchie.
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I think it would be more appropriate to name a sea after him.
WAPIMA(TM) (Score:2)
WAPIMA(TM)
What A Pain In My Ass (To Maintain)
In memory of Dennis Ritchie... (Score:3)
space* dennis_ritchie[]; // The Dennis Ritchie Array of Pointers to Space
How about (Score:1)
Arrays got Back (Score:2)
I like Big Arrays, I cannot lie.
No? Ok, how about a name that keeps the VLA acronym intact. Voluminous Leering Apparatus
Acronym Attic [acronymattic.com] has some guesses.
Panoptes (Score:3)
After the giant watchman in Greek mythology that kept a constant watch with his 100 eyes only closing a few at a time.
Follow Precedent (Score:1)
USB Low Speed 1.536 Mbit/s 192 kB/s
USB Full Speed 12 Mbit/s 1.5 MB/s
USB Hi-Speed (USB 2.0) 480 Mbit/s 60 MB/s
So call it the Full Size Array and wait for developments
More Than Research (Score:1)
How about... (Score:1)
Naming rights (Score:2)
Sell them. Make some money.
JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Citibank are all in need of some good PR right about now. Its up for sale.
Complete Disharray (Score:2)
The Mushroom Farm (Score:2)
Horkheimer Array (Score:2)
The Upgraded Very Large Array (Score:2)
Submission? (Score:2)
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Plow lines between the dishes on the array, make a nice vector logo, and make the logo its name and refer to it as the Array Formerly Known as the Very Large Array.
Sagan Nazca Array?
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If they get military funding: ARRAY, LARGE, VERY