Name that telescope and win a prize

MSNBC ^ | Sept. 3, 2001 | Compiled by MSNBC

[Physicist]

Name that telescope and win a prize
Space Shorts: NASA solicits suggestions for SIRTF’s new title

Sept. 3 —  NASA is asking Earthlings to find a friendly name for a new space-based observatory that will allow scientists to search for new planets at the farthest reaches of the universe. The observatory, due to be launched in the summer of 2002, is currently called the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, or SIRTF.

“WE ARE HOPING to tap the creativity of the public to find a name suitable for this important mission that will help enrich our knowledge of the universe,” said Doris Daou, an education and outreach spokeswoman for the mission, which is being managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Members of the public have previously dreamed up the names for the Hubble Space Telescope (named after astronomer Edwin Hubble), the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (named after astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar) and the Sojourner rover used in the Mars Pathfinder mission (named after Sojourner Truth, a black abolitionist and advocate of women’s rights).

The SIRTF will allow scientists to study objects by looking for the heat they radiate in the infrared wavelength and will search for dusty discs around other stars where planets might be forming.

The deadline for nominations is Dec. 20 and must be accompanied by a short essay explaining the reasons behind the suggested name. If the name of a person is proposed, the person must be deceased.

The grand-prize winner will be flown to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the telescope’s launch. More details are available via the contest’s Web site.

[Physicist]

The article doesn't mention that SIRTF is the last of the four telescopes of the "Great Observatories" program. The other three were the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Telescope.

I've already entered the contest. The name I suggested is "Shapley", after the famed astronomer Harlow Shapley. Here's the essay I submitted:

Harlow Shapley was one of the very greatest astronomers of the 20th century. He's the one who first elucidated the true extent of the Milky Way galaxy, and our sun's location within it.

Interestingly, he is well known for a blunder. He identified the "spiral nebulae" not as distant galaxies, but as galactic gas clouds that were in the process of condensing into stars. This was his position in the famous "Shapley-Curtis Debate". Curtis took the position that the Milky Way galaxy was small, and that the spiral nebulae were in fact distant--but not too distant--galaxies.

Time has proved both men right and wrong. The "nebulae" are indeed galaxies, but Harlow Shapley was right about the extent of our galaxy. Nobody realized the univere was so big.

Shapley was right to expect to find stars forming within our galaxy. He believed that the "nebulae" were protosuns and not galaxies, because he could not believe that anything could be so distant. Moreover, the "nebulae" had the shape one would expect from a condensing star.

This telescope will find the protosuns that Shapley expected to see. Since he never found them, it is fitting that his namesake should.

I apologize for its being so sketchy and incoherent, but the essays are limited to 200 words, not the 250 claimed on the website. I had to do some last-minute editing. I also wanted to mention that Shapley and Hubble were great rivals in life; it is fitting that the rivalry should continue, to the advancement of astronomy.

(When I say that they were rivals, I mean that they really couldn't abide each other. One time a paper of Shapley's was sent to Hubble for peer review. Hubble scrawled the words "Of No Consequence" on the first page and sent it back without further comment. To Shapley's horror and Hubble's delight, the words somehow made it into print, appended after Shapley's name.)

Any other good names out there? Submit them and let us all know!

[Physicist]

You guys must have some ideas.

[Physicist]

Ping.

Who else should we apprise of this prize?

[537 Votes]

Wasn't it Slipher who discovered the red shift in the first place? His name might do.

[Physicist]

Name that telescope!

[anymouse]

While we're pushing for every other government facility, bridge, freeway, museum, airport, etc. to be named after him, how about "The Ronald Regan Space Telescope?"

[Physicist]

Name that telescope!

[gcruse]

 new planets at the farthest
reaches of the universe.

I would call it PipeDream, because

1.  It looks like someone's dream of a pipe.
2.  If they think we can see planets at the
   farthest reaches of the universe, as opposed
   to, at best, this galaxy, then it is, indeed, a
   pipe dream.

[Dog]

What is the name of the guy out in Berkley who is doing all the research on Plants?

[Doctor Stochastic]

Kuipers

He did lots of planetary stuff.

[PatrickHenry]

There are so many who deserve to be honored. Has anything been named after Isaac Newton? We should recognize the true giants. Distant planets aren't particularly Newton's line of work, but still, he's the progenitor of so much, and I can't think of anyone of his stature who hasn't had a big project named after him yet. (I know, there's Einstein; but let's get Newton in there first.)

[Dog]

Plants = Planets

[Physicist]

No, the Reagan Space Telescope is going to be for tracking missiles. ;-)

[Brad]

I've got a great name. I believe it was Piers Anthony that coined it.

How about "The Macroscope"?

Or its nickname, the SDPS. (Super Duper Pooper Scooper)

[AndrewC]

It names itself, "FIRST".

[gcruse]

 
While we're pushing for every other government facility,
bridge, freeway, museum, airport, etc. to be named after him, how
about "The Ronald Regan Space Telescope?"

And we're going to keep it up until
you learn to spell Reagan.  Or did
you err in meaning Donald Regan?

[Physicist]

Another case of science reporting gone horribly wrong. SIRTF will be searching for accretion disks within our galaxy.

[Dick Bachert]

How about "The Clinton?":

It's always up, hard, in the dark, turns to the left and in the sucking vacuum of space.

[Hatteras]

Maybe they should have had a contest before the named this one: CLICK HERE

[Physicist]

Uh...they did. What's wrong with "Chandra"?

[Hatteras]

Come to think of it, maybe they could train this thing on Gary. There's no telling what they might find...

[BikerNYC]

The Sagan Scope

[gjenkins]

How about the 'Phalliscope'? As in "Hey is that a telescope in your orbit or are you just happy to see me?"

[js1138]

Fred Hoyle. Author of The Black Cloud, coiner of the phrase "Big Bang" and all-around pain-in-the-a$$. Perhaps they'll leave the cable ties on the antenna again.

[Psycho_Bunny]

"The Bunny Thump"

"Magic Bunny Ears"

"Carrot Colossus"

”The Big Peeper”

”Whoa”

”The I-See-What-Yer-Doin’”

[general_re]

How about "Deep Wallet Nine"? Or maybe "Deep Wallet Mine" ;)

On the other hand, my brother (the "artist") is (again) looking for work, and he can do some pretty fabulous things with an airbrush. I don't suppose NASA is looking for a subcontractor to do a nice flame-job on the front end or maybe some pinstriping, hmmm?

Seriously, though, how about "Kepler"?

[Teacher317]

Space Infrared Telescope Facility, or SIRTF.

Why not Facility for the InfraRed Space Telescope, or FIRST?

[Phantom Lord]

How about Hubble without the glasses

[Phantom Lord]

How about The Frink, or Glavin

[Teacher317]

That'll teach me to reply before reading the whole thread.

[Phantom Lord]

CompuGlobalHyperMegaScope

[AndrewC]

Yeah, I was partial to "Ol' Red Eye", but I think that "Visine" gets the red out.

[sonofagun]

"Has anything been named after Isaac Newton?"

I have a "Newtonian" telescope at home!

[onedoug]

Thanks for the flag, and for encouraging your own competition. I'm waxing exploratory....

[Physicist]

Two more names relevant to the formation of stellar systems: Bart Bok and James Jeans.

[Old Professer]

FIRST THINGS SIRFT

[SolitaryMan]

The Sagan Scope

YUK! :o)

[Old Professer]

How about "The Alpha Project?"

[anymouse]

Doh! How could I make that typo. May "the Gipper" forgive my error. :)

[BikerNYC]

awwww.....

How 'bout the Saganscope? (Is one word any better?)

[anymouse]

I'll second that suggestion. Johanas Kepler is supposedly a distant ansestor of mine.

[anymouse]

I'll second that suggestion. Johanas Kepler is supposedly a distant ancestor of mine.

[gcruse]

When are they ever going to make spell checkers that work on names? :)

[gcruse]

How 'bout the Saganscope?

Or the Carlidoscope?  Heh.

[dead]

In the interest of smaller government, how about "Budweiser"?

[BikerNYC]

Or the Carlidoscope?

Teehee.

[saminfl]

The Sagan Scope

Better the Feynman scope than the Sagan scope.

[Moonman62]

There are so many who deserve to be honored. Has anything been named after Isaac Newton?

Yes, the European Space Agency named their x-ray telescope after Newton.

[dead]

Did anybody bother to name Katie Couric's colon scope?

[cracker]

Space Distance Facility - 1 (SDF-1) Sorry, but if we can dub the first shuttle "Enterprise"...