This afternoon (2pm PT, 5pm ET) NASA will reveal the first images from their new space telescope. You can see them on their live stream (this is a continuous stream, and you could start watching right now for six hours before you’ll see the expected stunning images).
Now I don’t know what to call the Giant Space Widget. It’s been officially named after an administrator and homophobe, rather than a scientist, and I’d rather not use that name at all. To see why, maybe you could fill some of the time you’re waiting by watching this video:
I’m looking forward to the images, but I’m going to have to refer to it as the [PLACEHOLDER] Space Telescope, unless someone has a better name. Why is it named after a homophobic bureaucrat anyway?
The Jolly Wodger?
The Placeholder telescope is designed to mostly collect infrared radiation.
It does also see visible light. (I didn’t know gold was a color on the spectrum. Did it take over from yellow or orange?)
So you could refer to it as the Infrared Space telescope. That isn’t its name but everyone will know what you mean.
Is just using the initials JWST enough? There are plenty of other suggestions on this previous thread here :
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2022/03/25/how-about-if-we-just-call-it-the-homophobic-space-telescope/
From that I like Intarnsitive’s suggestion (#32) of the Dr. Frank Kameny Space Telescope and (#26) feralboy12 ‘s one of the Annie Jump Cannon Space telescope or my own one base don VLT (Very large Telescope) lines of the Whopping Hexagonal Large Astronomical metaphorically Eagle-eyed space telescope (WHALE) whichis only abitless contrived than some names NASA’s already used.
You could also just refer to it as the REDACTED Space Telescope.
Everyone will know what you mean and why.
Follow the example of the “Washington Football Team” (before they became the Commies) and call it the Lagrange Point Telescope.
Big Enormous Space Thing Telescope (BEST Telescope)
OWL
Overwhelmingly large telescope
A proposal for an Earth-based 20m telescope.
Images… bring me exoplanets or bring me DEATH
(De Enormous Astronomical Telescope Hub.)
@11 “Follow the example of the “Washington Football Team” (before they became the Commies) and call it the Lagrange Point Telescope”
Which telescope in which Lagrange point ? There are several telescopes currently in various Lagrange points. The JWST is merely the current largest one, until, I suppose, China decides to best it.
Spacy McSpacescope
@7: “Overwhelmingly large telescope
A proposal for an Earth-based 20m telescope.”
The proposed European Extremely Large Telescope, is planned to have a 42 meter primary mirror.
…and they’ll never let any Brits look through it!
The mirrors are like honeycomb so maybe something attuned to your spider (insect) crawly thing senses like the Bee Scope or AnthophilaScope.
There is another “supermoon” Wednesday July 13th.
So that’s why I’m always 6 hours late.
OT post condemned murderer wants to donate kidney to atone for the murder but the state won’t let him because it’ll delay his execution. He’s not asking for the execution to be stopped . Like what’s the problem? It’s will only delay him for about a month if they’re so determined to kill him. He also has a rare blood type so those kidneys are needed desperately .
On topic , I feel the same way about confederate statues . There are better people who deserve the accolades.
Would our esteemed host find it acceptable to use a partial re-name? I suggest the Space-Probing Instrument Descrying Extraterrestrial Realities [SPIDER] Webb telescope…
Back before it got it’s official name, we just called it the “Next Generation Space Telescope,” or NGST. That’s what the folder pertaining to it on my laptop is still labeled.
Telly McTelescope face.
I know that I wanted to be silenced, but :Vera Rubin? Caroline Herschel or Henrietta Swan Leavitt ? My choice, which won’t be popular, is Jocelyn Bell Burnel. She’s living for one thing and a white Brit. .Can anyone suggest a non-male non European? I suspect that you’d find some support for Omar Khayyam (male) but I’m too ignorant to know enough.
Please, someone get the administrator to close my a/c
expatlurker @19
Kool Observer, Just A few Kelvin
(see what I did there?)
My vote would be Agalonike, after the (possibly fictional) Thessalian astronomer / sorceress of ancient Greek tradition.
Or how about going full anti-bigot and calling it the Great Big Sparkly Communist Space Penis? That would also have the advantage that people would stop using the soubriquet for me…
Goddamit, coming up with good abbreviations is hard.
“Humungous” for H.
“Roundworld” for R ( as distinct from “discworld”)
I suppose you could try “Palantir” for P.
The things far back are long dead, so you could use “necroscope” for N.
The 2022 Space Telescope.
Well, the first proper image has now been released :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-12/james-webb-telescope-live-blog-updates-first-images-nasa/101229100
The homophobic homo sapiens symbolic territory marking telescope.
Also this ten minute long ABC news clip discussing the new image with astronomer Dr Rebecca Allen here.
Just Wow Space Telescope
Joyous Wonder Space Telescope
Knowledge Rendering Amplification Peripheral.
Or, name it after a female or trans working space scientist.
Someone else on twitter suggested Hubble 2: The Electric Boogaloo so I am using that