(April 12, 2014 at 9:01 am)professor Wrote: The Vatican has a world class observatory.
One of their doings is called by them- the LUCIFER project.
LUCI
A Near-Infrared Camera & Spectrograph for the LBTMax Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics - LUCI - A Near-Infrared Camera & Spectrograph for the LBT
Quote:LUCIFER (LBT Near Infrared Spectroscopic Utility with Camera and Integral Field Unit for Extragalactic Research) is the near-infrared instrument for the LBT. The name of the instrument was officially changed to LUCI in 2012.
Lucifer Instrument Helps Astronomers See Through Darkness to Most Distant Observable Objects
Quote:Lucifer is part of the Large Binocular Telescope, which happens to be right next to the Vatican Observatory on Mt. Graham in Tucson. That's right, the Vatican has an observatory in Arizona, manned by Jesuit astronomers. Now its next-door neighbor is named for the Devil.
Scientists at five German universities designed the instrument, and they came up with the name, according to Daniel Stolte, a spokesman for the University of Arizona. Stolte -- who is German -- explained that the team was tossing around names, looking for an acronym that would fit all the technical terms.
"In Germany, they wouldn't have the same hesitation that Americans would have, since it's a very secular country," he said. "I may be completely off, but that's just my hunch -- for us Germans, Lucifer just sounds cool. It's more historical than emotional." No matter your religion, the photos are certainly cool.
The Vatican doesn't own it and didn't name it. According to the Max Planck Institute it isn't even called Lucifer any more.
Where are the snake and mushroom smilies?
