On the “Very Large Telescope” in Chile

The newspaper article was about the discovery of a gas giant planet circling a distant sun. It is an impressive accomplishment. The naming of an expensive and complex device “Very Large Telescope” was really the eye-opener. These are same scientist who gave us such hit as quarks, quasars, and chromatic aberrations. Did they just run out of exotic sounding names? It could be an attempt at setting a new trend in the name game. It wouldn’t be so bad to have football stadium names that didn’t sound like the cover page of an annual report. What’s wrong with spending the afternoon at the “Huge Grey Oval”? I’d be fine with that as long as there are plenty of places to park my 2004 “Big Metal Box With Wheels.”