Astronomer Garik Israelian spoke at TEDGlobal on Wednesday, July 22, about spectroscopy — the art of examining the spectral signature of a distant object in the universe, and inferring its qualities and behaviors. When I asked him during rehearsal if he could stay for the whole conference, he said he had to leave early — for a great reason: he’d be at the inauguration of the largest telescope in the world, the Gran Telescopio Canarias, that Friday. He promised to record a video greeting from the event — and sent it over just as TEDGlobal wrapped up: