TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- The Smithsonian Institution may have a chance to build a telescope system it wants despite concern about a nearby Navajo-style sweat lodge.
The U.S. Forest Service says it is willing to take another look at the proposal despite having rejected it in September.The Smithsonian's first application was rejected because it was incomplete, Forest Service spokeswoman Gail Aschenbrenner said.
"Their application wasn't adequate, and that's why we have asked them -- if they are still interested in the gamma ray project -- to reapply," Aschenbrenner said Thursday. "People can submit as many applications as they like."
Smithsonian astronomer Trevor Weekes said a new plan will be submitted to the Forest Service within a week.
"It's really not finalized yet, so we'll have no comment until we actually make an application," he said.
Sweat lodge operator Cayce Boone, a Navajo, said he feels betrayed.
"I thought they made a ruling, and they couldn't re-appeal it," he said. "But somehow it went through the loophole."
The Smithsonian had sought to build a $16 million gamma ray telescope array in Montosa Canyon at the base of Mount Hopkins, about a quarter-mile from the lodge and about 35 miles south of Tucson.
Last fall, Coronado Forest Supervisor John McGee said the proposed array conflicted with Indian religious practices and the sweat lodge. McGee was elk hunting and could not be reached for comment.
Mount Hopkins is in the Santa Rita Mountains. Its summit is home to several telescopes The Smithsonian has a base camp and visitor center at the bottom.
Called the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System, or Veritas, the telescope would be the most powerful of its kind and is designed to complement Earth-orbiting gamma ray observatories.
Veritas would use seven giant, dish-shaped reflectors to study high-energy gamma rays emitted by quasars, supernovae and other powerful celestial objects.
Each of the seven Veritas reflectors would be 34 feet in diameter. Six would be situated at the corners of a hexagon measuring 280 feet on a side, and the seventh would be in the center of the hexagon.
Collaborators in the Veritas project are Boston University, the California Institute of Technology, DePauw University, Iowa State University, NASA, Northwestern University, Purdue University, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the University of California at Riverside, the University of Chicago, the University of Utah, Washington University and eight universities in England and Ireland.