Our symbol
Many people ask me about the meaning of the FEJ symbol. The story is very interesting and it was a last-minute necessity. Starting the story.
In 2016, I was responsible for organizing the 6th SBGEA (link at the beginning). It is a very important event and it would be the first time in the interior of the country, a huge responsibility. In addition, I wanted to promote UFG, Jataà and the group itself, the Space Physics Laboratory (FEJ), transforming Jataà into another center of support for national Geophysics.
There were two wonderful people working on the event, design, calendar, structure and so on. These people were: our technician Thiago Oliveira and our Physics student Phablo Araujo. They created this symbol that we use today. The meaning is as follows:
The geometric shape given by the hexagon is due to the symbol of the city of JataÃ. For those who don't know, Jataà is the name given to the bees of the Apidae family, the same group that also includes the better-known honeybees of the Apis genus, the orchid bees of the Euglossini tribe, the carpenter bees of the Xylocopinae subfamily and the bumblebees of the Bombini tribe. Meliponinis are popularly known as stingless bees, which is not a completely appropriate name since they actually have a stinger, although it is atrophied and cannot be used as a defensive weapon.
Thus, Thiago and Phablo used this symbol to designate the origin and location of FEJ. In addition, the shape has a deeper meaning. The hexagon indicates the largest area with the least resources for its development. Thus, FEJ aims to be a laboratory that produces results with the minimum of resources, both private and governmental.
After choosing the format, it was decided to place 11 hexagons as shown in the figure below indicating the 11-year solar cycle, nothing could be more coherent as we work towards understanding this cycle of our sun king more and more.
Around the beginning of 2018, the group, with the aim of adding more research areas, added the term Astronomy. Thus, the old name Jataà Space Physics (FEJ) changed to Laboratory of Astronomy and Space Physics (LAFEJ), whose symbol is the one shown below.
The figure below is the line spectrum obtained by NASA's McMath-Pierce Solar Observatory (for more details, click on the link at the end). It is important to show that the "half" yellowish light of our Sun is, in reality, a "sum" of all the colors of the electromagnetic spectrum. The idea in using this spectrum of our Sun was precisely to specifically indicate our star among thousands that exist in our universe. It is a kind of fingerprint of our Sun.
This became our symbol with all the same previous meanings, now adding the Earth in the background.
