back to article Pumped-up radio telescope seeks new moniker

The prosaically named Very Large Array radio-telescope installation is getting a substantial upgrade – and the boffins who tend it have decided that it needs a new name to go with its formidable facelift. The Very Large Array – or VLA, for short – is a group of 27 radio antennas located in the desert about 50 miles west of …

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  1. Armando 123

    Sell the naming rights

    Hey, it works for stadiums. (Stadia?)

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    And the winner is....

    Peered

    Astronomical

    Radio

    Investigation of

    Space

    As for payment, I'll take either a government check or a six-figure research grant.

  3. Anomalous Cowturd
    Pint

    In honour of "The Archers"

    SHULA.

    Southern Hemisphere Ultra Large Array.

    ^-^

    1. Herbert Meyer
      Boffin

      Sorry, wrong hemispere

      New Mex is in the Northern Hemisphre.

      1. Anomalous Cowturd
        Headmaster

        @Herbie

        My bad.

        The "Atacama desert" bit stuck in my mind.

        What's a hemispere?

        ^_^

  4. minky

    Fuck Me, That's a Very Large Array

    Where do I collect...?

  5. stucs201

    Reilly

    Just because I loved Chorlton and the Wheelies as a kid.

  6. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    ESO naming

    Unlikely, it started out as a way to avoid political problems naming their telescopes - we need the name of an astronomer who was 60% German, 20% French, 10% Italian ....

    But it has become a deliberate (if slightly tongue in cheek) ESO policy to give them deliberately nerdy names - it's even regarded as an example of a German sense of humour.

    1. Nick Pettefar

      Re: ESO naming

      When I worked there the scientific workforce was 40% Italian. The Germans were very much in the minority, eclipsed by Brits and certainly by French.

      ESO might be based near Munich but it is definitely NOT German! The guy in charge is Dutch and the chairman of astronomy is a Brit.

  7. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge
    Coat

    ELVAS has left the galaxy

    Extremely Large Variable Array Sensor

    1. Trygve Henriksen

      Try using 'Interferometer' instead of 'Array'. ;-)

  8. Fred Dibnah
    Happy

    From Down the Line...

    Spantana!

  9. Herbert Meyer
    Mushroom

    WTF

    Having driven through the array, on US60 west from Socorro, NM, the best name is "WTF is That ?" No, we knew it was there, but were unprepared for the scale of the thing. Then we got directed off the road by a NM State trooper, to make way for a portable building being moved.

    The thing is between a long stretch of NOTHING, the array, then MORE NOTHING. You should drive it someday. It is just west of the Trinity site. After visiting, you understand why they blew it off out there, it is nowhere.

  10. SoltanGris

    Buzzed

    After much thought and a bit of research I ended up with this first effort.

    Ternary

    Wide

    Array

    Telescope

    Works for me.

    For some reason El Reg insists on screwing up the formatting by inserting double space.

    Oh well. That is TWAT if you are suffering from some strange form of blindness.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How about...

    Very Large Array Developed - the Impaler

  12. SkippyBing

    For a desert

    Sorocco seems to have a lot of grass. Just saying...

    1. Herbert Meyer
      Pint

      It's on the Rio Grande

      And the imagery may have been shot the week after a rainstorm.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    Scientific Time?

    Shouldn't the time reference be UTC (BIPM) to be "scientific"?

  14. VinceH

    Optional

    Refining it with 'Very' should do the job. The beauty of that is that it scales well: make it bigger again? Prefix the (new) name with 'Very' again. And again. And again...

  15. ZapB
    Paris Hilton

    Taking Inspiration form Red Dwarf

    Cornucopia of

    Large

    Interfering

    Telescopes for

    Observing

    Radiative

    Incidents in

    Space

    [Paris because she would want to play with it.]

  16. Chris 171
    Boffin

    The Hom Array

    You can do anything with a Wok.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    How about...

    ...BFA?

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    From a couple of days ago

    Posted here - http://www.plurk.com/p/ednikw

    AOA - Already Obsolete Array, on account of the SCIRO et al

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/15/anz_lobby_for_uber_telescope/

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Type

    Erm, CSIRO, obviously. Sorry about that.

  20. Sean Baggaley 1

    I'd go with "JBOT"

    Just a Bunch Of Telescopes.

    (Or, for a truly British touch, how about "The Extensive Array", or "TEA".)

  21. K. Adams
    Holmes

    HORATIO

    Huge Orientible RAdio Tri-axial Interferometric Observer

  22. K. Adams
    Pint

    TADA!

    Tri-axial Adaptive Directional Array!

    (Sponsored by Yahoo!)

    ;-)

  23. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Go

    "His Master's Voice"

    Then "steal" the EMI logo.

  24. Poor Coco

    Why does it have to be prefixed?

    Very Large Array — We Really Mean It This Time, or Maybe Next.

    Or, perhaps

    Really Quite Impressively Large Array

    for Phase II, and then

    ZOMG SRSLY Large Array

    for Phase III?

  25. Jonski
    Coat

    Eddie Izzard would name it

    the Fuck Off Big Array.

  26. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
    Joke

    Let the locals name it

    RTMG - Radio Telescopio Muy Grande

  27. Mediocrates
    Alien

    HUGE VLA

    Huge Ultra Giant Expanded Very Large Array

  28. Michael Dunn
    Happy

    VLA

    Since we already have the letters Very Large Array Radio Telescope, we could tip a recognition to Douglas Adams, and call it the Vlarty Sartfast - it will certainly be providing yet more of a Guide to the Galaxy.

  29. OzBob
    Coat

    How about

    the Eleanor Arroway VLA?

  30. rurwin
    Happy

    CHARITY

    Celestial Huge Array Radio Interferometry Telescope Y-formation.

    Imagine the headlines when funding is in doubt: "Senators refuse to give money to CHARITY"

    When all the fun has been had and the joke gets old, they can then apply for funding for FAITH and HOPE.

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    PARIS

    Particularly Awesome, Really Immense Space - thing.

  32. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart

    Federal

    University

    Controlled

    King-sized

    Massive

    Earth

    Tethered

    Hugh

    Array

    Telescope

    Sees

    Big

    Interstellar

    Galaxies

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Three Cheers.....

    HIP HIP ARRAY

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