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Renaming the Very Large Array

Posted by Soulskill on 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."

5 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. How about Sagan by rossdee · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In Honor of Carl Sagan, the writer of Contact , and a populiser of astronomy

    1. Re:How about Sagan by Ster · · Score: 3, 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

  2. Charity by sirdude · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why not auction the name and donate the proceeds to a scientific charity? I suspect that big money can be made ...

  3. Do new names really stick? by jklovanc · · Score: 4, 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.

  4. People by hackertourist · · Score: 3, 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)