@falken @jannem OWL actually came first, but after several studies we deemed it was too complex and risky, and we opted instead for the ELT, which is still quite a challenge! So OWL now means Originally Was Larger 😄 But yes, we fully embrace these extremely (pun intended) descriptive names, as xkcd brilliantly showed: https://xkcd.com/1294/

@esoastronomy @falken @jannem @troublewithwords The final final really final this time telescope (3).