NavList:

Frank, it's not clear to me which way you fall on this but I don't see how an observatory is any better than a football stadium in this regards. If someone or a corporation is going to cough up multi-millions for construction, why not let them name it. Same science gets done regardless of name and it might not get done without the donations or it might be several decades down the road before it gets done. Keck 1&2 come to mind, right next door to Subaru, started the trend of building observatories there and was named for someone who's foundaton coughed up $70M.

Do you know the Japanese name? It's "Subaru". There's a brand of automobile called Subaru, and there is sometimes confusion over this. A large telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii is also named Subaru, and occasionally people hear about this and imagine that naming rights have been purhased by the car company --as if a noble scientific observatory is no better than a football stadium-- and get all hot and bothered about it.