List of astronomy acronyms

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a compilation of initialisms and acronyms commonly used in astronomy. Most are drawn from professional astronomy, and are used quite frequently in scientific publications. A few are frequently used by the general public or by amateur astronomers.

The acronyms listed below were placed into one or more of these categories:

  • Astrophysics terminology – physics-related acronyms
  • Catalog – collections of tabulated scientific data
  • Communications network – any network that functions primarily to communicate with spacecraft rather than performing astronomy
  • Data – astrophysical data not associated with any single catalog or observing program
  • Celestial object – acronyms for natural objects in space and for adjectives applied to objects in space
  • Instrumentation – telescope and other spacecraft equipment, particularly detectors such as imagers and spectrometers
  • Meeting – meetings that are not named after organizations
  • Observing program – astronomical programs, often surveys, performed by one or more individuals; may include the groups that perform surveys
  • Organization – any large private organization, government organization, or company
  • Person – individual people
  • Publication – magazines, scientific journals, and similar astronomy-related publications
  • Software – software excluding catalogued data (which is categorized as "catalog") and scientific images
  • Spacecraft – any spacecraft except space telescopes
  • Telescope – ground-based and space telescopes; organizations that operate telescopes (for example, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO)) are listed under "organization"

0–9

  • 1RXH – (catalog) 1st ROSAT X-ray HRI, a catalog of sources detected by ROSAT in pointed observations with its High Resolution Imager
  • 1RXS – (catalog) 1ROSAT X-ray Survey, a catalog of sources detected by ROSAT in an all-sky survey
  • 2dF – (instrumentation) Two-degree field, spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope
  • 2dFGRS – (observing program) Two-degree-Field Galaxy Redshift Survey
  • 2D-FRUTTI – (instrumentation) Two dimensional photon counting system
  • 2MASP – (catalog) Two-micron all sky survey prototype, an early version of the 2MASS catalog
  • near-infrared
    ; also, the catalog of sources from the survey
  • 2MASSI – (catalog) Two-Micron All Sky Survey, Incremental release, one of the versions of the 2MASS catalog
  • 2MASSW – (catalog) Two-Micron All Sky Survey, Working database, one of the versions of the 2MASS catalog
  • LRG and QSO
    survey
  • 6dF – (instrumentation) six-degree field, spectrograph on the UKST

A

  • A&A – (publication) Astronomy & Astrophysics, a European scientific journal
  • AAA – (organization) Amateur Astronomers Association of New York
  • AAO – (organization) Australian Astronomical Observatory (prior to 1 July 2010: Anglo-Australian Observatory)
  • AAS – (organization) American Astronomical Society
  • AAT – (telescope) Anglo-Australian Telescope
  • VLTI
  • AAVSO – (organization) American Association of Variable Star Observers
  • ABBA – ADC Backend For Bolometer Array
  • ABRIXAS
    – (observing program) A BRoadband Imaging X-ray All-sky Survey
  • AC
    – (catalog) Catalogue Astrographique
  • ACE – (spacecraft) Advanced Composition Explorer
  • Chandra X-Ray Observatory
  • ACM – (meeting) Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors
  • ACP – (instrumentation) – Aerosol Collector and Pyrolyser, an instrument on the
    Huygens probe
  • ACS – (instrumentation) Advanced Camera for Surveys, an instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope
  • ACV – (celestial object) Alpha Canes Venatici, a class of rotating variable stars with strong magnetic fields named after Alpha Canum Venaticorum (Cor Caroli), the archetype for the class
  • ACYG – (celestial object) Alpha CYGni, a class of rotating variable stars named after Alpha Cygni (Deneb), the archetype for the class
  • ADAF – (astrophysics terminology) Advection Dominated Accretion Flow, a mechanism by which matter is slowly accreted onto a black hole
  • ADC
    – (organization) Astronomical Data Center
  • ADEC – (organization) Astrophysics Data Centers Executive Council, an organization that provides oversight for the Astrophysics Data and Information Services
  • ADF – (organization) Astrophysics Data Facility
  • ADS – (catalog) Aitken Double Stars
  • ADS – (catalog) The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory/NASA astrophysics data system, an on-line database of almost all astronomical publications
  • ADIS – (organization) Astrophysics Data and Information Services
  • ADS – (organization) Astrophysics Data Service, an organization that maintains an online database of scientific articles
  • AEGIS – (observing program) the All-wavelength Extended Groth strip International Survey
  • AFGL – (organization) Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, a research laboratory now part of the United States Air Force Research Laboratory
  • AFOEV – (organization) Association française des observateurs d'étoiles variables
  • AG – (organization) Astronomische Gesellschaft
  • AGAPE – (observing program) Andromeda Galaxy and Amplified Pixels Experiment, a search for microlenses in front of the Andromeda Galaxy
  • AGB – (celestial object) asymptotic giant branch, a type of red giant star
  • AGC – (catalog) Arecibo general catalog
  • AGK – (catalog) Astronomische Gesellschaft Katalog
  • AGN
    – (celestial object) Active galactic nucleus
  • AGU – (organization) American Geophysical Union
  • AIM – (spacecraft) Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, a spacecraft that will study the Noctilucent clouds
  • AIPS – (software) Astronomical Image Processing System
  • AJ
    – (publication) Astronomical Journal
  • ALaMO – (organization) Automated Lunar and Meteor Observatory
  • ALEXIS – (instrumentation) Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors
  • ALMA – (telescope) Atacama Large Millimeter/Sub-millimeter Array
  • ALPO – (organization) Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers
  • neutrino telescope
  • AMASE – (software) Astrophysics Multi-spectral Archive Search Engine
  • AMS – (organization) American Meteor Society
  • AN – (publication) Astronomische Nachrichten, a German scientific journal
  • ANS – (telescope) Astronomical Netherlands Satellite
  • ANS – (organization) Astro News Service
  • ANSI – (organization) American National Standards Institute
  • AO
    – (instrumentation) Adaptive optics
  • AOR – (instrumentation) Astronomical observation request
  • ApJ
    – (publication) Astrophysical Journal
    • ApJL
      – (publication) Astrophysical Journal Letters
    • ApJS
      – (publication) Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
  • APM – (instrumentation/catalog), Automatic plate measuring machine, a machine for making measurements from photographic plates; also, a catalog based on measurements by the machine
  • APO – (organization) Apache Point Observatory
  • APOD – (data) Astronomy Picture of the Day
  • APT – (telescope) Automated Patrol Telescope
  • ARC – (organization) Ames Research Center
  • ARC
    – (organization) Astrophysical Research Consortium
  • galaxies after the Big Bang
  • ASA – (organization) Astronomical Society of the Atlantic
  • ASAS – All Sky Automated Survey
  • ASCL – Astrophysics Source Code Library, a citable online registry of research source codes
  • ASE – (organization) Astronomical Society of Edinburgh
  • ASI
    – (organization) Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
  • ASIAA – (organization) Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • pixels at the focus of each antenna
    .
  • ASP – (organization) Astronomical Society of the Pacific
  • ASTRO – (spacecraft) Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations
  • ATA – (telescope) Allen Telescope Array, a radio interferometer array developed by the SETI Institute to search for possible signals from extraterrestrial life
  • ATCA – (telescope) Australia Telescope Compact Array
  • ATLAS – (observing program) Australia Telescope Large Area Survey, a deep
    sky survey of two SWIRE
    fields covering a total of about 7 square degrees of sky.
  • ATM – (person) hobbyist engaged in Amateur telescope making (may also refer to the book of the same title, Amateur Telescope Making)
  • AU
    – (measurement) Astronomical Unit, the distance between the Earth and the Sun
  • AUASS – (organization) Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences
  • AURA – (organization) Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
  • AWCA – (meeting) American Workshop on Cometary Astronomy, an older name for the International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy
  • AXP – (celestial object) Anomalous X-Ray Pulsar
  • AXAF – (telescope) Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, an older name for the Chandra X-ray Observatory

B

  • B – (catalog) Barnard catalog
  • BAA – (organization) British Astronomical Association
  • BAAS – (publication) Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society
  • BAC – (catalog) Bordeaux Astrographic Catalog
  • BAO – (astrophysics terminology) baryon acoustic oscillations
  • BAO – (organization) Beijing Astronomical Observatory
  • BASIS – (observing program) Burst and All Sky Imaging Survey
  • BAT – (instrumentation) Burst Alert Telescope, an instrument on
    SWIFT
  • BATC – (observing program) Beijing-Arizona-Taiwan-Connecticut, the name of a multi-wavelength sky survey
  • BATSE – (instrument) Burst and Transient Source Experiment, an instrument on the
    Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory
  • BATTeRS
    – (telescope) Bisei Asteroid Tracking Telescope for Rapid Survey
  • BB
    – (astrophysics terminology) Black body
  • BBXRT – (telescope) Broad Band X-Ray Telescope
  • BCD
    – (celestial object) Blue compact dwarf
  • BCD – (software) Basic calibrated data, data produced after basic processing
  • BCEP – (celestial object) Beta CEPhei, a class of pulsating variable stars for which Beta Cephei is the archetypal object
    • also BCE
  • blue compact dwarf
    , also bright central galaxy
  • BCG
    – (celestial object) Brightest Cluster Galaxy, the brightest galaxy in a cluster of galaxies
  • BCVS – (catalog) Bibliographic Catalogue of Variable Stars
  • BD
    – (catalog) Bonner Durchmusterung
  • BD
    – (celestial object) Brown dwarf
  • BEN – (catalog) Jack Bennett catalog, a catalog of deep-sky objects for amateur astronomers
  • BEL – (celestial object) broad emission line clouds in Active galactic nucleus[1]
  • BF – (astrophysics terminology) Broadening function
  • BH
    – (celestial object) Black hole
  • BHB – (celestial object) Blue horizontal branch, a type of luminous star
  • BHC
    – (celestial object) Black hole candidate
  • BHXRT – (celestial object) Black hole x-ray transient
    • also BHXT
  • BICEP2
    – (telescope) Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization 2
  • BIMA – (organization & telescope) Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association, and also B-M-I Array, microwave telescope it operated
  • BIS – (organization) British Interplanetary Society
  • BITP – (organization) – Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics, a Ukrainian research institute
  • BLAGN – (celestial object) Broad-Line AGN, based on classification of spectral line widths
  • active galaxies for which BL Lacertae
    is the archetypal object
    • also BLL
  • BLAST – (telescope) – Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope
  • BLR – (astrophysics term) the broad line region of the AGN
  • BNSC – (organization) British National Space Centre, the older name for UKSA
  • BOAO
    – (observatory) Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory, in Korea
  • BOOMERanG – (telescope) Balloon Observations of Millimetric Extragalactic Radiation and Geophysics
  • BPM – (catalog) Bruce proper motion
  • BSG – (celestial object) Blue super giant
  • BSS – (celestial object) Blue straggler star
    • also BS
  • BSS
    – (observing program) Bigelow Sky Survey
  • BY – (celestial object) BY Draconis, a class of rotating variable stars for which BY Draconis is the archetypal object

C

D

  • DAO – (organization) Dominion Astrophysical Observatory
  • Cepheids named after Delta Cephei
    , the archetype for the class
  • DDEB – (celestial object) double-lined
    eclipsing binary
  • DENIS
    – (observing program/catalog) DEep Near Infrared Survey
  • DENIS-P – (catalog) DEep Near Infrared Survey, Provisory designation [or also known as DNS].
  • DES – (observing program) Dark Energy Survey
  • DESI - (observing program) Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
  • DEC – Declination
  • DES – (observing program) Deep Ecliptic Survey
  • stellar spectra
    with an interstellar origin
  • DIRBE
    – (instrumentation) Diffuse InfraRed Background Experiment, a multiwavelength infrared detector used to map dust emission
  • DISR – (instrumentation) – Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer, an instrument on the
    Huygens probe
  • DMR
    – (instrumentation) Differential Microwave Radiometer, a microwave instrument that would map variations (or anisotropies) in the CMB
  • DM – dark matter, the unidentified non-baryonic matter
  • DN – (celestial object) Dwarf nova
  • DNS – (celestial object) double neutron star, another name for a binary neutron star system. [Caution: Do not confuse with DNS relating to DENIS – Deep Near Infrared Survey].
  • DOG – (celestial object) dust-obscured galaxy, a galaxy with an unusually high ratio of infrared-to-optical emission, implying strong dust absorption and re-emission.[4]
  • DPOSS – (data) Digitized Palomar Observatory Sky Survey
  • DRAGN
    (celestial object) Double Radio Source Associated with a Galactic Nucleus
  • DS – (celestial object) dwarf star
  • DSCT – Delta SCuTi, a class of pulsating variable stars named after Delta Scuti, the archetype for the class
  • DSN – (communications network) Deep Space Network, a network of radio antennas used for communicating to spacecraft
  • DSS – (data) Digitized Sky Survey
  • DSFG - (celestial object) Dusty Star Forming Galaxy
  • DWE – (instrumentation) – Doppler Wind Experiment, an instrument on the
    Huygens probe

E

  • E – (celestial object) Eclipsing, a binary star system with variable brightness in which the stars eclipse each other
    • EA – (celestial object) Eclipsing Algol, a class of eclipsing binary stars named after Algol, the archetype for the class
    • EB – (celestial object) Eclipsing Beta Lyrae, a class of eclipsing binary stars named after Beta Lyrae, the archetype for the class
    • EW – (celestial object) Eclipsing W Ursa Majoris, a class of eclipsing binary stars named after W Ursa Majoris, the archetype for the class
  • EAAE
    – (organization) European Association for Astronomy Education
  • EACOA – (organization) – East Asian Core Observatories Association
  • EAO – (organization) – East Asian Observatory, operates the
    JCMT
  • E-ELT
    – (telescope) – European Extremely Large Telescope
  • EAPSNET – (organization) – East-Asian Planet Search Network
  • EC – (celestial object) Embedded Cluster, a star cluster that is partially or fully embedded in interstellar gas or dust
  • ECA
    – (celestial object) Earth-crossing asteroid
  • EGG – (celestial object) evaporating gaseous globule
  • EGGR – (catalog) Eggen & Greenstein, a catalog of mostly white dwarfs
  • EGP
    – (celestial object) extrasolar giant planet
  • EGRET – (telescope) Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope, another name for the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
  • deep field
  • EHB – (celestial object) extreme horizontal branch, a type of hot, evolved star
  • EJASA – (publication) Electronic Journal of the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic
  • Kuiper belt objects
  • ELAIS –
    ESO
    large-area infrared survey – a survey
  • ELAIS – (observing program) European Large Area ISO Survey, a survey of high redshift galaxies performed with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO)
  • ELF – extremely luminous far-infrared galaxy, a synonym for Ultra-Luminous infrared galaxy
  • ELT – (telescope) Extremely Large Telescope
  • EMP – (catalog) Ephemerides of Minor Planets
  • EMP – (celestial object) extremely metal-poor, a star with few elements other than hydrogen and helium
  • EMU – Evolutionary Map of the Universe
  • ENACS – (observing program) ESO Nearby Abell Cluster Survey, a survey of galaxy clusters
  • EPIC – (celestial object) stars and exoplanets, associated with the K2 "Second Light" plan of the Kepler space telescope
  • galaxies with red spectra
  • ESA – (organization) European Space Agency
  • ESO – (organization) European Southern Observatory
  • ESTEC – (organization) European Space research and TEchnology Centre
  • ESTRACK – (communications network) European Space TRACKing, a network of radio antennas used for communicating to spacecraft
  • ETC – exposure time calculator
  • EUV – (astrophysics terminology) Extreme ultraviolet
  • EUVE – (telescope) Extreme UltraViolet Explorer, an ultraviolet space telescope
  • EVN – (organization) European VLBI Network

F

  • FAME – (telescope) Full-sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer
  • FASTT – (telescope) Flagstaff Astrometric Scanning Transit Telescope
  • FCC – (catalog) Fornax Cluster Catalog, a catalog of
    galaxies in the Fornax Cluster
  • FEB – (celestial object) falling-evaporating body, a solid planetary object that is being evaporated by the stellar wind
  • FGS – (instrumentation) fine guidance sensors, an instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope
  • FHST – (instrumentation) Fixed Head Star Trackers, an instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope
  • FIR – (astrophysics terminology) far infrared
  • FIRST – (observing program) Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, a radio survey of the sky with the Very Large Array
  • FIRST – (telescope) Far InfraRed and Submillimeter Space Telescope, an older name for the Herschel Space Observatory
  • FIRAS – (Instrumentation) Far-InfraRed Absolute Spectrophotometer
  • FIRE – (simulation project) Feedback in Realistic Environments, a project to simulate galaxy formation with detailed feedback processes included
  • FITS
    – (software) Flexible Image Transport System, the format commonly used for scientific astronomy images
  • FLAMES – (instrumentation) Fibre Large Array Multi Element Spectrograph, instrument on the VLT
  • FLOAT – (telescope) Fibre-Linked Optical Array Telescope
  • FLWO
    – (telescope) Fred L. Whipple Observatory
  • FMO – (celestial object) fast moving object, an asteroid so close to the Earth that it appears to be moving very fast
  • FOC – (instrumentation) Faint Object Camera, a camera formerly on the Hubble Space Telescope
  • FOCAS – (instrumentation) Faint Object Camera And Spectrograph, an instrument for the Subaru Telescope
  • FoM – (terminology) Figure of Merit. Used to indicate the performance of a method or device.
  • FORTE – Fast On-orbit Rapid Recording of Transient Events
  • FOS – (instrumentation) Faint Object Spectrograph, a spectrometer formerly on the Hubble Space Telescope
  • FOV – (instrumentation) field of view
  • FRB – (celestial object) fast radio burst
  • FRED – (astrophysics terminology) fast rise exponential decay, the variations in the luminosity of
    gamma ray bursts
    over time
  • FSC – (catalog) Faint Source Catalogue, one of the catalogs produced using
    Infrared Astronomical Satellite
    data
  • FSRQ – (celestial object) Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars
  • FTL – (astrophysics terminology) faster than light
  • pre–main sequence stars named after FU Orionis
    , the archetype for the class
    • also FU
  • FUSE – (telescope) Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, an ultraviolet space telescope
  • Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma
    mission
  • FWHM – (instrumentation) full width at half maximum, a telescope resolution
  • FWZI – (instrumentation) full width at zero intensity, a telescopes resolution

G

H

  • HAeBe – (celestial object) Herbig AeBe star, a type of pre-main-sequence star with strong spectral emission lines
    • HAe – (celestial object) Herbig Ae star
    • HBe – (celestial object) Herbig Be star
  • VLBI Space Observatory Program, a Japanese radio astronomy
    project
  • HAO – (organization) high-altitude observatory
  • spectrograph installed on the ESO 3.6 m Telescope
  • HASI – (instrumentation) Huygens Atmosphere Structure Instrument, an instrument on the
    Huygens probe
  • HB – (celestial object) horizontal branch, a type of evolved red giant star in which helium is burned in the core and hydrogen is burned in a shell around the core
  • HBRP – (celestial object) High-magnetic field radio pulsar
  • HBV – (catalog) Hamburg–Bergedorf Variables, a catalog of variable stars
  • HBMM – (astrophysics terminology) Hydrogen-burning minimum mass
  • HCG – Hickson Compact Group
  • HCO – (organization) Harvard College Observatory
  • HCS – (celestial object) heliospheric current sheet, the boundary where the polarity of the Sun's magnetic field changes direction
  • HD – (catalog) Henry Draper, a catalog of stars
  • HDE – (catalog) Henry Draper Extension, a catalog of stars
  • HDF – (data/celestial object) Hubble Deep Field, an area of the sky with little foreground obscuration that was observed deeply with the Hubble Space Telescope; also the name for the data product itself
  • HDM – (astrophysics terminology) hot dark matter, any model for structure formation in the universe that characterizes neutrinos as dark matter
  • spectrograph on the Subaru Telescope
  • HE – (catalog) Hamburg/ESO Survey
  • HEAO – (telescope) High Energy Astronomical Observatory, a series of X-ray and gamma ray space telescopes
  • HEASARC – (organization) High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center, a NASA organization that deals with X-ray and gamma ray
    telescope data
  • HerMES - (observing program) Herschel Multitiered Extragalactic Survey, a legacy survey of star forming galaxies using the SPIRE and PACS instrument of Herschel
  • HESS – (telescope) High Energy Stereoscopic System, a telescope for detecting cosmic rays
  • HET – Hobby–Eberly Telescope
  • HETE – (telescope) High Energy Transient Explorer, a space telescope that performs multi-wavelength observations of gamma-ray bursts
  • HF – (astrophysics terminology) High frequency
  • HGA
    – (instrumentation) High gain antenna
  • HH – (celestial object) Herbig–Haro object, objects formed when the ejecta from new stars collides with the interstellar medium
  • HIC – (catalog) HIPPARCOS Input Catalog, a catalog of data for the first target stars selected for observation by the Hipparcos
  • HICAT – (catalog) HIPASS catalog, a catalog of HI sources, see also NHICAT
  • HID – (astrophysics terminology) – hardness–intensity diagram, a type of
    color–magnitude diagram used in X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy
  • HIP – (catalog) HIPPARCOS, the catalog of data produced by Hipparcos
  • HIPASS – (Observing program) HI Parkes All-Sky Survey, survey of HI sources
  • HIPPARCOS – (telescope) HIgh Precision PARallax COllecting Satellite, a space telescope specifically designed to measure distances to stars using parallax
  • HISA – (astrophysical terminology) HI self-absorption region
  • HIRAX – (telescope) Hydrogen Intensity and Real-time Analysis eXperiment, an interferometric array of 1024 6-meter (20ft) diameter radio telescopes to be built in South Africa
  • HK – (catalog) Survey for metal-poor stars based on the strength of CaII H and K absorption lines
  • solar luminosities in the infrared
  • HMC – (instrumentation) Halley Multicolor Camera, an instrument on the Giotto spacecraft
  • HMGB – (celestial object) High-mass gamma-ray binary, a
    massive star
  • HMPO – (celestial object) High-mass proto-stellar object
  • massive star
  • HOPS – The H2O southern Galactic Plane Survey[5]
  • HPMS – (celestial object) high proper motion star, a star with high proper motion
  • HR – (catalog) Hoffleit Bright Star
  • HR – (astrophysics terminology) Hertzsprung–Russell, a diagram that compares stars' colors to their luminosities
  • HRC-I – (instrumentation) High Resolution Camera, an instrument on the Chandra X-ray Observatory
  • Cassini spacecraft
  • HRMS – (observing program) High Resolution Microwave Survey, a survey for microwave signals from extraterrestrial intelligence
  • HRI – (instrumentation) High Resolution Imager, an instrument on the ROSAT telescope
  • HSP – (instrumentation) High Speed Photometer, an instrument formerly on the Hubble Space Telescope
  • HST – (telescope) Hubble Space Telescope
  • HTRA – (astrophysics terminology) High time-resolution astrophysics, the observations of phenomena that vary on timescales of one second or less
  • HUT – (telescope) Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, an ultraviolet telescope that operated from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle
  • HVC – (celestial object) high-velocity cloud, an interstellar cloud with a velocity that is too high to be explained by galactic rotation
  • HXD – (instrumentation) Hard X-ray Detector, an instrument on the Suzaku space telescope
  • HVS
    – (celestial object) hypervelocity star or high velocity star

I

  • IAC
    – (organization) Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias
  • IAPPP – (organization) International Amateur/Professional Photoelectric Photometry
  • IAS – (organization) Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale
  • IASY – (observing program) International Active Sun Year, the name given to a series of coordinated Sun-related observational programs performed in 1969 and 1971
  • IAU – (organization) International Astronomical Union
  • IAUC – (publication) IAU Circular
  • IAYC – (meeting) International Astronomical Youth Camp
  • IBAS – (instrumentation) – INTEGRAL Burst Alert System, an instrument on the INTEGRAL satellite
  • IBIS – (instrumentation) – Imager on Board the INTEGRAL Satellite, an instrument on the INTEGRAL satellite
  • IBVS
    – (publication) Information Bulletin on Variable Stars
  • IC
    – (catalog) Index Catalog
  • IC – (celestial object) Intracluster, either the regions between stars in star clusters or the region between galaxies in galaxy clusters
  • ICE – (spacecraft) International Comet Explorer
  • ICM – (celestial object) intracluster medium, is the superheated gas present at the center of a galaxy cluster
  • ICQ – (publication) International Comet Quarterly
  • ICRF
    – (astrophysics terminology) International Celestial Reference Frame, a coordinate system based on radio sources used to define the locations of objects in the sky
  • ICRS – (astrophysics terminology) International Celestial Reference System, a coordinate system based on Hipparcos
    observations used to define the locations of objects in the sky
  • IDA – (organization) International Dark-Sky Association, an organization that seeks to control light pollution
  • IDP – (celestial object) Interplanetary Dust Particle, dust particles around planets or planetary bodies
  • IDS
    – (catalog) Index Catalog of Double Stars
  • IEO – (astrophysics terminology) inner-Earth object, the orbits of asteroids
  • ICRF
  • IfA: either Institute for Astronomy (Hawaii) or Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
  • IFN – (celestial object) integrated flux nebulae, dust and gas outside the plane of the Milky Way, which are thus illuminated by the entire galaxy as opposed to a nearby star or stars
  • IGM
    – (celestial object) intergalactic medium
  • IGR – (catalog) Integral Gamma-Ray source, a catalog based on observations by the INTEGRAL telescope
  • IGY – (observing program) International Geophysical Year, the name given to a series of coordinated geophysical and astronomical observation programs performed in 1957 and 1958
  • IHW – (organization) International Halley Watch, an organization created to coordinate observations of Halley's Comet in 1986
  • ILOM – (spacecraft) In-situ Lunar Orientation Measurement, a mission to measure variations in the orientation of the Moon from the Moon's surface
  • Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration
  • IMBH – (celestial object) intermediate mass black hole
  • IMF – (astrophysics terminology) initial mass function, the relative numbers of stars of different masses that form during star formation
  • IMO – (organization) International Meteor Organization
  • IMPACT – (meeting) International Monitoring Programs for Asteroid and Comet Threat
  • IMPS – (observing program) IRAS Minor Planet Survey
  • INAG – (organization) Institut National d'Astronomie et de Geophysique
  • ING – (organization) Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes
  • INS – (celestial object) Isolated Neutron Star
  • INT – (telescope) Isaac Newton Telescope
  • gamma-ray
    space telescope
  • Cambridge University
  • IOTA – (telescope) Infrared Optical Telescope Array
  • IOTA – (organization) International Occultation Timing Association, an organization for monitoring occultations
  • IPAC
    – (organization) Infrared Processing & Analysis Center
  • IPMO – (celestial object) Isolated Planetary Mass Objects, another name for isolated
    planemos or sub-brown dwarfs
  • IQSY – (observing program) International Quiet Sun Year, the name given to a series of coordinated Sun-related observational programs performed in 1964 and 1965
  • IR – (astrophysics terminology) InfraRed
  • IRAC – (instrumentation) Infrared Array Camera, a mid-infrared imager on the Spitzer Space Telescope
  • IRAF – (software) Image Reduction and Analysis Facility, a general-purpose professional data-processing package
  • IRAIT – (telescope) – International Robotic Antarctic Infrared Telescope
  • IRAM
    – (organization) Institut de Radio Astronomie Millimetrique
  • IRAS – (telescope/catalog) InfraRed Astronomical Satellite, an infrared
    space telescope; also the catalog produced using the telescope's data
  • IRCS – (instrumentation) InfraRed Camera and Spectrograph, an instrument on the Subaru Telescope
  • IRDC – (celestial object) Infrared Dark Cloud
  • IRS – (instrumentation) InfraRed Spectrograph, an infrared spectrometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope
  • IRSA – (organization) Infrared Science Archive
  • IRTF
    – (telescope) InfraRed Telescope Facility
  • IRX – (astrophysical terminology) InfraRed Excess
  • ISAS – (organization) Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
  • ISAS – (organization) Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies, a research unit at the University of Saskatchewan
  • ISCO – (astrophysical terminology) Innermost Stable Circular Orbit
  • ISEE – (spacecraft) International Sun-Earth Explorer, a series of spacecraft designed to study the effects of the Sun on the Earth's space environment and magnetosphere
  • ISGRI – (instrumentation) – INTEGRAL Soft Gamma-Ray Imager, an instrument on the INTEGRAL satellite
  • ISM – (celestial object) InterStellar Medium
  • ISN – (organization) International Supernovae Network
  • ISO – (telescope) Infrared Space Observatory
  • ISON – International Scientific Optical Network
  • Ulysses spacecraft
  • ISRO
    – (organization) Indian Space Research Organisation
  • Infrared Astronomical Satellite
    data
  • ISTeC – (organization) International Small Telescope Cooperative
  • ISY – (observing program/meeting) International Space Year, the name given to a celebration of space exploration as well as a series of coordinated astronomical observations and a series of meetings to plan future astronomy research efforts
  • ITA – (organization) Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, one of three organizations that was combined to form the Institute of Astronomy
  • IUCAA – (organization) Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics - Pune, India
  • IUE – (telescope) International Ultraviolet Explorer, an ultraviolet space telescope
  • IUEDAC – (organization) IUE satellite Data Analysis Center
  • IWCA – (meeting) International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy

J

  • Janskys – (publication) Green Bank Observatory
  • JAC – (publication) Japan Astronomical Circular
  • JAC – (organization) Joint Astronomy Centre, the organization that operates the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
  • JAPOA – (organization) Japan Amateur Photoelectric Observers Association
  • JAXA
    – (organization) Japan Aerospace eXploration Agency
  • JBO – Jodrell Bank Observatory, a radio observatory in England.
  • JCMT – (telescope) James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
  • JD
    – (astrophysics terminology) Julian Date, an alternative time commonly used in astronomy
  • JET-X – (telescope) Joint European Telescope for X-ray astronomy
  • JGR – (publication) Journal of Geophysical Research
  • JILA – (organization) formerly Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics
  • JIVE
    – Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe
  • JKT – (telescope) Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope
  • JPL – (organization) Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a research center associated with NASA
  • JSGA – (telescope/organization) Japan SpaceGuard Association, a Japanese telescope used to track near-Earth asteroids and space junk
  • JWST – (telescope) James Webb Space Telescope, an infrared space telescope

K

  • KAIT – (telescope) Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope
  • KAO – (telescope) Kuiper Airborne Observatory
  • KBO
    – (celestial object) Kuiper belt object
  • KCAO
    – (organization) Kumamoto Civil Astronomical Observatory
  • KIC – (catalog)
    Kepler Mission
  • KPNO – (organization) Kitt Peak National Observatory
  • KS – (astrophysics terminology) Kennicutt-Schmidt relation

L

M

  • MARVEL – (project) Multi-object Apache Point Observatory Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey, a NASA-funded project to search for exoplanets
  • M – (catalog) Messier
  • M – (celestial object) Mira, a class of long period pulsating variable stars named after Mira, the archetype for the class
  • MAC – (observing program) Multi-instrument Aircraft Campaign, a program to study the cometary dust from the Leonids meteor showers
  • gravitational lensing
    and the catalog of sources detected by the survey
  • MACS – (catalogue) Magellanic Catalogue of Stars
  • MAGIC – (telescope) Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov telescope
  • MALT – Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team – including [1][permanent dead link] and MALT45
  • MAP – (telescope) Microwave-background Anisotropy Probe, an older name for the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
  • MASER – (astrophysics terminology) microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, microwave emission that is similar to the optical emission from a laser
  • MAVEN
    – Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN
  • MBA
    – (celestial object) main belt asteroid
  • MBH – (celestial object) massive black hole
  • MCG – (catalog) Morphological Catalog of Galaxies
  • MCMC - (astrophysics terminology) Markov chain Monte Carlo
  • MCO – (spacecraft) Mars Climate Orbiter
  • MDS – (observing program) Medium Deep Survey, a survey of high-redshift galaxies with the Hubble Space Telescope
  • active galactic nuclei
  • MEGARA – (instrumentation) Multi-Espectrógrafo en GTC de Alta Resolución para Astronomía, an instrument on the Gran Telescopio Canarias
  • MEPAG
    – (organization) Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group
  • MEPCO – (meeting) Meeting of European Planetary and Cometary Observers
  • MER – (spacecraft) Mars Exploration Rover
  • MERLIN – Multi Element Radio Linked Interferometer. A seven-telescope radio interferometer
  • MESSENGER
    – MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging
  • MGC – (catalog/observing program) Millennium Galaxy Catalogue
  • MGS – (spacecraft) Mars Global Surveyor
  • MHD – (astrophysics terminology) MagnetoHydroDynamic
  • MICO – (software) Multi-year Interactive Computer Almanac, astronomy almanac software created by the United States Naval Observatory
  • MIDI – MID-Infrared instrument. A mid-infrared instrument of the
    VLTI
  • MIPS – (instrumentation) Multi-band Imaging Photometer, an instrument on the Spitzer Space Telescope
  • MIRI
    – (instrumentation) Mid-Infrared Instrument, an instrument on the James Webb Telescope
  • Julian date
    minus 2400000.5
  • MLO – (organization)
  • MMO – (spacecraft) Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, JAXA space probe to Mercury
  • MMR – (astrophysics terminology) Mean-Motion Resonance
  • MMS – Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission
  • MMSN – Minimum Mass Solar Nebula
  • MMT
    – (telescope) Multiple Mirror Telescope
  • MNRAS – (publication) Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
  • MO – (spacecraft) Mars Observer
  • MOA – (observing program) Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics, a survey searching for gravitational lenses
  • MOC – (instrumentation) Mars Observer Camera, an instrument on the Mars Observer
  • MOID – (astrophysics terminology) minimum orbit intersection distance, the minimum distance between two objects' orbital paths
  • MOLA – (instrumentation) Mars Observer Laser Altimeter, an instrument on the Mars Observer used to study Mars's topology
  • MOND – (astrophysics terminology) modified Newtonian dynamics
  • MONS – (telescope) Measuring Oscillations in Nearby Stars, a Danish space telescope that was proposed and designed but not built[6]
  • extrasolar planetss
    in orbit around other stars
  • MOST – (telescope) Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope, an Australian radio telescope
  • MOTIF – (telescope) Maui Optical Tracking and Identification Facility
  • Spectrum-X-Gamma
    satellite
  • MPC
    – (publication) Minor Planet Circulars (also called Minor Planets and Comets)
  • MPEC
    – (publication) Minor Planet Electronic Circular
  • MPF – (spacecraft) Mars PathFinder
  • MPL – (spacecraft) Mars Polar Lander
  • MPO – (space craft) Mercury Planetary Orbiter,
    ESA space craft to Mercury
  • MPP – (instrumentation) Multi-Pinned-Phase,
    CCD technology that reduces dark current
    noise
  • MPCS – (publication) Minor Planet Circulars Supplement
  • extrasolar planets using a gravitational lensing technique
  • MRI – (astrophysics term) magnetorotational instability, a local instability in the accretion disks which only requires weak magnetic field and dΩ2/dR<0
  • MRK – Markarian galaxies
  • MRO – (spacecraft) Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
  • MSL – Mars Science Laboratory
  • MSP – (celestial object) millisecond pulsar
  • MSSS – (organization) Maui Space Surveillance Site
  • MSX – (telescope) Midcourse Space EXperiment, an infrared space telescope
  • MSSSO – (organization) Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories
  • MUNICS – (observing program) MUnich Near-Infrared Cluster Survey
  • Mu rocket
  • MUSTANG – (instrumentation) Multiplexed SQUID TES Array at Ninety GHz, A bolometer camera on the Green Bank Telescope
    .
  • MUSYC – (observing program) Multi-wavelength Survey by Yale-Chile
  • MW – (celestial object) Milky Way
  • MWD – (celestial object) magnetic white dwarf
  • compact star
    and a very massive star
  • MYSO – (celestial object) massive young stellar object

N

  • N – (celestial object) nova
  • NACA – (organization) National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, the older name for NASA
  • NAMN – (organization) North American Meteor Network
  • NAOJ – (organization) National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
  • NAS – (organization) Norsk Astronomisk Selskap, the Norwegian name for the Norwegian Astronomical Society
  • NASA – (organization) National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • NASDA
    – (organization) NAtional Space Development Agency
  • NBS – (organization) National Bureau of Standards, an older name for the National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • NCT – (telescope) Nuclear Compton Telescope – a balloon-borne soft gamma-ray (0.2-15 MeV) telescope.
  • near-Earth asteroid
  • near-Earth asteroid
  • NEAT – (observing program) Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking
  • NED – (software) NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database
  • NEO
    – (celestial object) Near-Earth object
    • also
      NEA
      – (celestial object) Near-Earth asteroid
  • NEMP – (celestial object) nitrogen-enhanced metal-poor star, a type of carbon star with high amounts of nitrogen
  • near-Earth asteroids
  • near-Earth asteroids
  • NEOWISE
    – Near-Earth Object WISE
  • near-Earth asteroids
  • near-Earth asteroids
  • NGC – (catalog) New General Catalog
  • NGS-POSS – National Geographic Society – Palomar Observatory Sky Survey
  • NGST – (telescope) Next Generation Space Telescope, an older name for the James Webb Space Telescope
  • ngVLA – (telescope) Next-Generation Very Large Array
  • NHICAT – (catalog) Northern HIPASS CATalog, the northern extension of the HIPASS catalogue
  • NICMOS – (instrumentation) Near Infrared Camera / Multi Object Spectrometer, an infrared instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope
  • Galileo spacecraft
  • NIR – (astrophysics terminology) near-infrared
  • NIRCam – (Instrument), Near-Infrared Camera, an instrument on James Webb Telescope
  • NIRSpec
    – (instrument) Near-Infrared Spectrograph, an instrument on James Webb Telerscope
  • NIST – (organization) National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • NLAGN – (celestial object) Narrow-Line AGN, classified based on lack of broadened emission or absorption lines in spectra
  • NLR – (astrophysics term) the Narrow Line Region of the AGN
  • NLTE – (astrophysics terminology) non-local thermodynamic equilibrium, situations where the temperature, pressure, etc. of a system are not in equilibrium
  • NLTT – (catalog) New Luyten Two-Tenths, a catalog of stars with high proper motions
  • NNVS – Nizhny Novgorod, Veränderliche Sterne; a variable star publication of the Nizhny Novgorod Society of Physics and Astronomy Amateurs
  • NOAA – (organization) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • NOAO
    – (organization) National Optical Astronomy Observatories
  • NODO – (telescope) NASA Orbital Debris Observatory, a now-defunct telescope used to observe space junk and other objects
  • NOT
    – (telescope) NOrdic Telescope
  • north celestial pole once used as standards for measuring magnitudes
  • NRAL
    – Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratory, the former name for Jodrell
  • NRAO – (organization) National Radio Astronomy Observatory
  • NRL
    – (organization) Naval Research Laboratory
  • NS – (celestial object) neutron star
  • NSF – (organization) National Science Foundation
  • NSO – (organization) National Solar Observatory
  • NSSDC
    – (organization) National Space Science Data Center
  • NSV – (catalog) New Suspected Variable, a catalog of variable stars
  • NT – (astrophysics terminology) Non-Thermal, radiation that is not related to the emission source's temperature (such as synchrotron radiation)
  • NTT – (telescope) New Technology Telescope, a telescope operated by the European Southern Observatory
  • NuSTAR – Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array
  • NVSS – NRAO VLA Sky Survey, a major survey

O

  • OAO
    – (observatory) Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, in Japan
  • OAO – (telescope) Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, a series of satellites with astronomical instruments that operated in the 1970s
  • OC – (celestial object) open cluster, a cluster of stars
  • OCA
    – (organization) Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur
  • OCO – (celestial object) Oort Cloud Object, an object (usually a comet) in the Oort cloud
  • OGLE – (observing program/catalog) Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, an observing program to survey the sky for microlensing events; also the catalog of sources produced by the project
    • BLG – (catalog) BuLGe, used to designate a source detected in the direction of the bulge of the Milky Way
    • TR – (catalog) TRansit, used to designate a potential observation of a microlensing event caused by a transiting star
  • OPAG – (organization) Outer Planets Assessment Group, a group established by NASA that provides advice on Solar System exploration
  • ORFEUS – (telescope) Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer, an ultraviolet space telescope that could be released and later retrieved by the Space Shuttle
  • OSIRIS-REx – Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer
  • OSS – (observing program) Ohio Sky Survey
  • OSSE – (instrumentation) Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment, an instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
  • OTA – (instrumentation) Optical Telescope Assembly, the optics of the Hubble Space Telescope
  • OVV – (celestial object) an optically violent variable quasar.
  • OWL – (telescope) orbiting wide-angle light-collectors, two satellites that will work together to observe cosmic rays hitting the Earth's atmosphere
  • OWL – (telescope) OverWhelmingly Large Telescope, a proposed telescope with a primary mirror with a width of 100 m

P

  • P60 – (telescope) Palomar 60-inch telescope
  • PA – (astrophysics terminology) Position Angle
  • PACS - (instrumentation) Photodetecting Array Camera and Spectrometer, a Herschel imaging camera and low resolution spectrometer
  • PAH – (astrophysics terminology) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
  • PAMELA – (telescope) Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics, a space telescope used to study cosmic rays
  • Pan-STARRS – (telescope) Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System
  • PASJ – (publication) Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
  • PASP – (publication) Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
  • PCA – (instrumentation) Proportional Counter Array, an X-ray detector on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer
  • PCAS
    – (observing program) Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey
  • PDBI – (telescope) Plateau de Bure Interferometer, a radio telescope
  • PDR – a photodissociation region or photon-dominated region (both terms are used synonymously); a region in the neutral ISM in which far-ultraviolet photons dominate the heating and chemistry
  • PDS – is a distributed data system that NASA uses to archive data collected by Solar System missions.
  • PEP – (instrumentation) PhotoElectric Photometry, an observing technique using photometers
  • PEPE – (instrumentation) Plasma Experiment for Planetary Exploration, an instrument on Deep Space 1
  • PGC – Principal Galaxies Catalogue
  • PHA
    – (celestial object) Potentially Hazardous Asteroid
  • PI – (person) Principal Investigator, the person who leads a scientific project
  • PK – (catalog) Perek-Kohoutek, a catalog of planetary nebulae
  • PKS – (Telescope) Refers to Parkes Observatory, a radio telescope in Australia
  • Planemo
    – (celestial object) planetary mass object
  • PLANET – (observing program) Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork, a program to search for microlensing events
  • PLS – (observing program) Palomar-Leiden Survey, a program to search for asteroids
  • PMPS – (observing program) Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey
  • PMS – (celestial object) pre-main sequence, young stars
    that are still in the process of formation
    • also pre-MS
  • PMT – (instrumentation) photomultiplier tube
  • P-L
    – a set of asteroid discoveries in the 1960s
  • PN – (celestial object) planetary nebula
    • also PNe (plural form of planetary nebula)
  • PNG – (catalog) Galactic Planetary Nebula
  • PNLF – (astrophysics terminology) Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function, the density of planetary nebula as a function of their luminosity
  • PNN – (celestial object) planetary nebula nucleus, the central star in a planetary nebula
  • PNNV – (celestial object) planetary nebula nucleus variable, a variable star in the center of a planetary nebula
  • POSS
    – (observing program) Palomar Observatory Sky Survey
  • POSSUM – Polarisation Sky Survey of the Universe's Magnetism
  • PPARC – (organization) Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, a major government-sponsored science agency in the United Kingdom, merged into the Science and Technology Facilities Council in 2007
  • PPM – (catalog) Positions and Proper Motions, a catalog of the positions and proper motions of stars
  • PPN – (celestial object) proto-planetary nebula, an object that has partially evolved from a red giant to a planetary nebula
  • PRE – (astrophysics terminology) photospheric radius expansion
  • PRIMUS – Prism Multi-Object Survey[permanent dead link], a large [spectroscopsurvey]
  • Proplyd – (celestial object) protoplanetary disk
  • PSC – (catalog) Point Source Catalog, a catalog of point-like
    Infrared Astronomy Satellite
  • PSF – (instrumentation) Point Spread Function, a function that describes the blurring of a point source that is caused by the optics of the telescope and instrument (as well as other effects)
  • PSI – (organization) Planetary Science Institute
  • PSR – (celestial object) Pulsar
  • PVO – (spacecraft) Pioneer Venus Orbiter
  • PVTEL – (celestial object) PV TELescopii, a class of pulsating variable stars named after PV Telescopii, the archetype for the class
  • PWD – (celestial object) pre-white dwarf, a star that no longer creates energy through fusion that will eventually evolve into a white dwarf
  • PWN – (celestial object) pulsar wind nebula
  • PZT – (telescope) photographic zenith tube, a general name for any telescope designed to observe objects passing at the zenith

Q

  • QBO – (astrophysics terminology) quasi-biennial oscillation, a type of season variation in the Earth's atmosphere
  • QGP
    - Quark-Gluon Plasma
  • CCDs
  • QPO
    – (astrophysics terminology) quasi-periodic oscillation
  • QSO – (celestial object) quasi-stellar object
  • Quasar – (celestial object) quasi-stellar radio source

R

  • RAPTOR
    – Rapid Telescopes for Optical Response project
  • RA
    – (astrophysics terminology) Right ascension
  • RAFGL
    – See AFGL.
  • RAMBO – (celestial object) An association of brown dwarfs or white dwarfs
    form a dark cluster.
  • RAS – (organization) Royal Astronomical Society
  • RASC – (organization) Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
  • RASS – (observing program/catalog) ROSAT All-Sky Survey, used as both a name for a survey with ROSAT and the catalogs produced from the survey
  • RC – (celestial object) Red Clump, a type of metal-rich red giant star
    • also RCG – red clump giant
  • galaxies
    • RC2 – Reference Catalogue, 2nd edition
    • RC3 – Reference Catalogue, 3rd edition
  • RC
    – (organization/telescope) Ritchey Chretien, a manufacturer of amateur and professional telescope equipment; also the telescopes themselves
  • RCB – (celestial object) R Coronae Borealis, a class of eruptive variable stars named after R Coronae Borealis, the archetype for the class
  • RDI – (astrophysics terminology) radiation-driven implosion
  • RECONS – (organization) Research Consortium on Nearby Stars, a survey of nearby stars
  • RGB – (celestial object) red-giant branch, a star that is evolving from a main-sequence star into a red giant
    • Can also refer to the ROSAT-Green Bank Catalog
  • RGO
    – (organization) Royal Greenwich Observatory
  • RLOF – (astrophysics terminology) Roche Lobe Overflow, the result of when an object in a binary system is larger than its roche lobe (i.e. when an object in a binary system expands to a radius where tidal forces become stronger than gravitational forces)
  • RLQ – (celestial object) radio loud quasar, a quasar that produces strong radio emission
  • RNGC – (catalog) Revised New General Catalog
  • radio sources
  • ROSAT – (telescope) ROentgen SATellite, an X-ray space telescope
  • gamma ray bursts
    ; also the telescopes used in this program
  • RQQ – (celestial object) radio-quiet quasar a quasar that produces weak radio emission
  • RRAT – (celestial object) rotating radio transient, a population of rotating neutron stars that produce periodic bursts of emission that are separated by intervals of minutes or hours
  • RRL – (celestial object) RR Lyrae, a class of pulsating variable stars named after RR Lyrae, the archetype of the class
    • also RR
  • galaxies
  • RSA
    – (organization) Russian Space Agency
  • RSAA – (organization) Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, part of the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Australian National University
  • RSG – (celestial object) red super giant
  • RSN – (celestial object) radio supernova
  • RTG – (instrumentation) Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, a type of power generator used in spacecraft that travel far from the Sun
  • RV – (astrophysics terminology) radial velocity, the velocity along the line of sight
  • RX – (catalog) ROSAT X-ray, a catalog of sources detected by ROSAT
  • RXTE – (telescope) Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer, a space telescope designed to observe variability in X-ray emission

S

  • S82 – Stripe 82
  • S&T – (publication) Sky & Telescope
  • SAAO – (organization) South African Astronomical Observatory
  • SALT – (telescope) Southern African Large Telescope
  • SAF – (organization) Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society)
  • SAM – (astrophysics terminology) Semi-Analytic Modeling, models that draw on numerical and analytical methods to model dark matter evolution in galaxies
  • SAO – (organization/catalog) Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the name of astrophysics research organization associated with Harvard University; also a catalog of stars
  • SARA – (organization) Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers
  • SAS – (software) Science Analysis Software, a software package used for processing data from the
    XMM-Newton Observatory
  • SAT – (telescope) synthetic aperture telescope
  • SAVAL – (organization) Sociedad Astronómica de Valparaíso y Viña del Mar, Chile. Amateur Astronomy. Founded in 1956.
  • SB – (celestial object) spectroscopic binary
    • SB1 – spectroscopic binary, single-lined spectra
    • SB2 – spectroscopic binary, double-lined spectra
  • SB – (astrophysics terminology) surface brightness
  • SBIG – (organization/instrumentation) Santa Barbara Instrument Group, the name of both a company that manufactures telescope equipment and the company's products
  • SBNC
    – (organization) Small Bodies Names Committee, an older name for the Committee for Small Body Nomenclature
  • supernovae at high redshifts
  • SCR – (observing program) SuperCOSMOS-RECONS, a survey that measured the proper motions of stars
  • SCT – (telescope) Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope, a general name for a type of compact telescope that uses both lenses and mirrors
  • SCUBA – (instrumentation) Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array, a submillimeter imager formerly at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
  • SCUBA-2 – (instrumentation) Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array 2, a submillimeter imager that will replace SCUBA
  • spectral type
  • Kuiper belt objects with highly eccentric, highly inclined orbits
    • also SKBO – Scattered Kuiper belt object
  • SDOR – (celestial object) S DORadus, a class of eruptive variable stars named after S Doradus
    , the archetype for the class
  • SDSS – (observing program/catalog) Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a large imaging and spectroscopic survey; also the catalog of sources from the survey
  • SDSSp – (catalog) Sloan Digital Sky Survey provisory / preliminary
  • SEAAN – (organization) Southeast Asia Astronomy Network, astronomy research and education among Southeast Asian countries
  • SED
    – (astrophyics terminology) Spectral Energy Distribution
  • SEDS – (organization) Students for the Exploration and Development of Space
  • SERC – (organization) Science and Engineering Research Council
  • SEST – (telescope) Swedish–ESO Submillimetre Telescope
  • SETI
    – (observing program) Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
  • SF – (astrophysics terminology) star formation
  • SFH – (astrophysics terminology) star formation history
  • SFR – (astrophyics terminology) star formation rate
  • near-Earth asteroids
  • SGR – (celestial object) – soft gamma repeater, a type of neutron star with strong magnetic fields that produces very large bursts of energy
  • SGRB – (celestial object) – Short Gamma-Ray Burst.
  • SHOES-Supernovae, HO, for the Equation of State of Dark energy
  • SID – (astrophysics terminology) Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance, a disturbance in the Earth's ionosphere caused by the Sun
  • SIDC – (organization) Sunspot Index Data Center
  • SIM – (telescope) Space Interferometry Mission, a planned optical space telescope that will be used to measure distances to stars
  • SIMBAD – (software) Set of Identifications, Measurements, and Bibliography for Astronomical Data, a website that provides catalog data on astronomical objects
  • SINGG – (observing program) Survey of Ionization in Neutral Gas Galaxies, a survey of star formation in nearby galaxies selected by gas rich galaxies using H-alpha and ultraviolet observations
  • SINGS – (observing program) Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey
  • SIPS – (observing program/catalog) Southern Infrared Proper Motion Survey, a program to identify stars with high proper motions at infrared wavelengths
  • SIRTF – (telescope) Space InfraRed Telescope Facility or Shuttle InfraRed Telescope Facility, older names for the Spitzer Space Telescope
  • SIS
    – (Instrumentation) Superconductor-Isolator-Superconductor
  • SKA – (telescope) Square Kilometre Array
  • SL – (catalog) Shoemaker–Levy, the
    Shoemaker and Levy, particularly Shoemaker–Levy 9
  • SL – (spacecraft) SpaceLab
  • SLED - (astrophysics terminology) Spectral Line Energy Distribution, a description of the relative strength of CO emission lines
  • SLS – (launch vehicle) American Space Shuttle-derived super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle.
  • SMA – (telescope) Submillimeter Array
  • SMART – (spacecraft) Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology
  • SMARTS – (organization) Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
  • SMBH – (celestial object) super massive black hole
  • SMC – (celestial object) Small Magellanic Cloud
  • SME – (spacecraft) Solar Mesosphere Explorer, a spacecraft used to study the Earth's ozone layer
  • SMEX
    – (spacecraft) SMall EXplorers, the name of a series of small astronomical spacecraft; also the program to develop the spacecraft
  • SMG - (celestial object) submillimeter galaxy
  • SMM – (telescope) Solar Maximum Mission, a solar space telescope
  • SN – (instrumentation) signal-to-noise, the ratio of the signal from an object to the noise from the detector that measured the signal
    • also SNR – Signal-to-nosie ratio
  • SN – (celestial object) supernova
    • also SNe (plural form of SN)
  • SNAP
    – (telescope) SuperNova Acceleration Probe, proposed space telescope
  • SNR – (celestial object) supernova remnant
  • SNU
    – (astrophysics terminology) solar neutrino units
  • SOARD – (software) Steward Observatory Asteroid Relational Database
  • SOFIA – (telescope) Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, an infrared telescope currently under construction that will fly inside a modified Boeing 747 aircraft
  • SOHO – (telescope) SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory, a solar space telescope
  • SONEAR – Southern Observatory for Near Earth Asteroids Research
  • SOLO – Solar Orbiter
  • SPARTAN – (telescope) Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for AstroNomy, an ultraviolet space telescope that can be released and retrieved by the Space Shuttle
  • SPHERE – (instrumentation) Spectro-Polarimetric High-Contrast Exoplanet Research, VLT
  • SPIRE - (instrumentation) Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver, a Herschel imaging camera and low-resolution spectrometer
  • SPIRIT – (instrument) SPace InfraRed Imaging Telescope, an infrared instrument on the Midcourse Space Experiment spacecraft
  • SPS – (spacecraft) solar power satellite, a general name for proposed satellites that would convert solar power into energy and then beam the energy to the surface of a planet (such as Earth) in the form of microwaves
  • SPS – (astrophysical terminology) stellar population synthesis
  • SPT – (telescope) South Pole Telescope
  • SQIID – (instrumentation) Simultaneous Quad Infrared Imaging Device
  • SQM – (celestial object) strange quark matter
  • SR
    – (astrophysics terminology) Special Relativity
  • SRON – (organization) Space Research Organization of the Netherlands
  • SS – (celestial object) Symbiotic Star, a type of binary star system containing a red giant and a hot dwarf star that generate a cone-shaped nebula
  • sSFR – (astrophyics terminology) specific star formation rate
  • Galileo spacecraft
  • SSI – (organization) Space Studies Institute
  • SSP
    – (instrumentation) Surface Science Package, on board the Huygens probe
  • SSP – (astrophysics terminology) simple stellar population
  • SSRQ – (celestial object) Steep Spectrum Radio Quasars
  • SSS – (observing program) SuperCOSMOS Sky Surveys
  • SSSPM – (catalog) SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey Proper Motion
  • SST – (telescope) Spectroscopic Survey Telescope
  • SST – (telescope) Spitzer Space Telescope, a space telescope
  • STARSMOG – (observing program) STarlight Absorption Reduction through a Survey of Multiple Occulting Galaxies, a survey using Hubble Space Telescope imaging
  • STEPS – (observing program) STEllar Planet Survey
  • STEREO – Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory
  • STIS – (instrumentation) Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, an instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope
  • STS – (vehicle) Shuttle Transport System or Space Transportation System
  • STScI – (organization) Space Telescope Science Institute
  • STSDAS – (software) Space Telescope Science Data Analysis System
  • SUGRA – (astrophysics terminology) supergravity
  • SUPRIME – (instrumentation) SUbaru PRIME focus CAMera, an instrument on the Subaru Telescope
  • SUSI – (telescope) Sydney University Stellar Interferometer, an optical interferometer
  • SWAN – (instrumentation) Solar Wind ANisotropy, an instrument on SOHO
  • submillimeter
    space telescope
  • SWEEPS – (observing program) – Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search, a survey of a subsection of the plane of the Milky Way performed with the Hubble Space Telescope
  • SWIRE – (observing program) Spitzer Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic survey
  • SwRI – (organization) Southwest Research Institute
  • SX Arietis
    , the archetype for the class
  • SXPHE – (celestial object) SX PhoEnicis, a class of pulsating variable stars named after SX Phoenicis, the archetype for the class

T

  • T-1 – (observing program) First Jupiter Trojan survey at Mount Palomar, part of the
    P–L
    survey
  • T-2 – (observing program) Second Jupiter Trojan survey at Mount Palomar, part of the
    P–L
    survey
  • T-3 – (observing program) Third Jupiter Trojan survey at Mount Palomar, part of the
    P–L
    survey
  • TABLEAUX – International Conference on Automated Reasoning with Analytic Tableaux and Related Methods
  • TAC – (organization) Time Allocation Committee or Telescope Allocation Committee, a general name for a committee that awards telescope observing time
  • TAC – (catalog) Twin Astrograph Catalog
  • TAI – (astrophysics terminology) International Atomic Time
  • TAMS – (astrophysics terminology) terminal-age main sequence, stars at the point in their lifetimes where they have finished burning hydrogen in their cores
  • TAROT – (telescope) Télescope à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires
  • TASS – (observing program) The Amateur Sky Survey
  • TAU – (spacecraft) Thousand Astronomical Unit, a spacecraft mission proposed in the 1980s that would reach 1000 AU in 50 years
  • TCB – (astrophysics terminology) Barycentric Coordinate Time
  • TCC –
    Theory of Cryptography Conference
  • TCG – (astrophysics terminology) Geocentric Coordinate Time
  • TDB – (astrophysics terminology) Barycentric Dynamical Time
  • TDRSS – (communications network) Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, an array of satellites used by NASA to communicate with many spacecraft in low Earth orbit
  • TES – (instrumentation) Thermal Emission Spectrometer, a spectrometer on the Mars Observer
  • TESS - (spacecraft) Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, NASA: an all-sky survey mission that will discover thousands of exoplanets around nearby bright stars. TESS launched 18 April 2018 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
  • TEP – (organization) Transits of Extrasolar Planets
  • TRGB - (celestial object) - Tip of the Red-Giant Branch stars, a primary distance indicator
  • TGF – (celestial object) – Terrestrial gamma-ray flash, gamma rays emitted from Earth's lightning storms
  • THEMIS – (instrumentation) Thermal Emission Imaging System, a camera on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft
  • TIC – (catalog) Tycho Input Catalog, a predecessor of the Hipparcos Input Catalog
  • TIFR – (organization) – Tata Institute of Fundamental Research - India
  • TIR – (astrophysics terminology) total infrared
  • TIMED – (spacecraft) thermosphere ionosphere mesosphere energetics and dynamics
  • TIE – (organization) Telescopes In Education
  • TLP – (astrophysics terminology) Transient Lunar Phenomenon, an unexplained flash of light observed from the Moon
  • TMC
    – (celestial object) Taurus Molecular Cloud
  • TMT – (telescope) – Thirty Meter Telescope, formerly known as California Extremely Large Telescope
  • TN
    – (person) telescope nut, nickname for an amateur telescope maker
  • TNO – (celestial object) trans-Neptunian object, any object that orbits the Sun at a distance greater than that of Neptune
  • TO – (person) telescope operator, the technician who assists in operating a telescope during astronomical observations
  • TOPS – (meeting) Toward Other Planetary Systems, a series of educational astronomy workshops
  • extrasolar Earth-like planets
  • TPHOLs
    – Theorem Proving in Higher-Order Logics
  • TRACE
    – Transition Region and Coronal Explorer, a solar space telescope
  • TrES – (telescope) Transatlantic Exoplanet Survey
  • TT – (astrophysics terminology) Terrestrial Time
    • also TDT – terrestrial dynamical time
  • TTS – (celestial object) T-Tauri star
  • TWA – (celestial object) TW Hydrae Association
  • Hipparcos (HIP) Catalogue
  • TZO – (celestial object) Thorne–Żytkow object, the object that forms when a neutron star merges with a red giant

U

  • UAI – Union Astronomique Internationale
  • UARS – (spacecraft) Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, a satellite used to study the Earth's upper atmosphere
  • UCAC – (catalog) USNO CCD Astrometric Catalog
  • UESAC
    – (observing program) Uppsala-ESO Survey of Asteroids and Comets
  • UFO
    – (astrophysics terminology) unidentified flying object
  • dwarf novae) that are named after U Geminorum
    , the archetype for the class
  • galaxies
  • UIT – (telescope) Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope, an ultraviolet telescope that was operated from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle
  • UKIDSS – (observing program/catalog) UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey
  • UKIRT – (telescope) United Kingdom Infrared Telescope
  • UKSA – (organization) UK Space Agency
  • UKST – (telescope) United Kingdom Schmidt Telescope
  • solar luminosities in the infrared
  • ULX – (celestial object) ultraluminous x-ray source
  • UMS – (celestial object) Upper Main Sequence, the more massive hydrogen-burning main-sequence stars
  • USAF – (organization) United States Air Force
  • USGS – (organization) United States Geological Survey
  • USNO – (organization) United States Naval Observatory
  • UT – (astrophysics terminology) Universal Time
  • UTC – (astrophysics terminology) Coordinated Universal Time
  • UV – (astrophysics terminology) ultraviolet
  • Galileo spacecraft
  • UXOR – (celestial object) UX ORionis objects, a class of variable pre–main sequence stars named after UX Orionis, the archetype for the class
  • UZC
    – Updated Zwicky Catalogue

V

W

  • WALLABY – a survey of neutral
    galaxies
  • WD – (celestial object) white dwarf
  • WDM – (astrophysics terminology) warm dark matter, any model for structure formation in the universe that characterizes "hot" particles such as neutrinos as dark matter
  • WDS – (catalog) Washington Double Star, a catalog of double stars
  • WEBT – (organization) Whole Earth Blazar Telescope, a network of observers across the Earth who work together to perform continuous observations of blazars
  • WET – (organization) Whole Earth Telescope, a network of astronomers spread across the Earth who work together to perform continuous observations of variable stars
  • WFCAM – (instrumentation) Wide Field Camera, a camera on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope
  • WFIRST - (telescope) Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, former name of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope scheduled for launch in 2025
  • WFMOS – (instrumentation) Wide-Field Multi-Object Spectrograph, proposed instrument for the Gemini telescopes
  • WFPC – (instrumentation) Wide Field and Planetary Camera, a camera formerly on the Hubble Space Telescope that was replaced with WFPC2
  • WFPC2 – (instrumentation) Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, a camera on the Hubble Space Telescope
  • WFC – (instrumentation) Wide-Field Channel, one of the detectors in the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope
  • WGPSN
    – (organization) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature
  • WHT – (telescope) William Herschel Telescope
  • WIMP
    – (celestial object) Weakly Interacting Massive Particle, a hypothetical subatomic particle that may comprise most of the dark matter in the universe
  • WIRCam – (instrumentation) Wide-field InfraRed Camera, instrument on the
    Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope
  • WIRE – Wide Field Infrared Explorer
  • WISARD – (software) Web Interface for Searching Archival Research Data
  • WISE – (observing program) Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
  • WIYN – (telescope) Wisconsin-Indiana-Yale-NOAO, the name of a telescope at Kitt Peak operated by the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Indiana University, Yale University, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory
  • WLM – (celestial object) Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte, a nearby dwarf galaxy in the constellation Cetus
  • cosmic microwave background radiation
  • WR – (celestial object) Wolf–Rayet, a type of hot, luminous star with strong stellar winds
    • WC – (celestial object) carbon-rich Wolf–Rayet, a Wolf–Rayet star with strong carbon spectral line emission
    • WN – (celestial object) nitrogen-rich Wolf–Rayet, a Wolf–Rayet star with strong nitrogen spectral line emission
      • WNE – (celestial object) early-type nitrogen-rich wolf–rayet, a wn star without hydrogen spectral line emission
      • WNL – (celestial object) late-type nitrogen-rich Wolf–Rayet, a WN star with hydrogen spectral line emission
    • WO – (celestial object) oxygen-rich Wolf–Rayet, a Wolf–Rayet star with strong oxygen spectral line emission
  • WSRT – (telescope) an aperture synthesis interferometer that consists of a linear array of 14 antennas
  • WTTS – (celestial object) weak-line t-tauri star, a type of young star
    with weak spectral line emission

X

  • XCS – (observing program) XMM Cluster Survey
  • Suzaku
    space telescope
  • XMM – (telescope) X-ray Multi-Mirror, the XMM-Newton earth-orbiting X-ray-sensitive telescope
  • XN
    – (celestial object) x-ray nova
  • XRF – (celestial object) x-ray flash

Y

  • Ys – (celestial object) yellow straggler
  • YSG – (celestial object) yellow super giant star
  • YSO – (celestial object) young stellar object

Z

See also

References

  1. S2CID 56047150
    .
  2. ^ "CASCA | Canadian Astronomical Society | Société Canadienne d'Astronomie". CASCA. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  3. S2CID 118724415
    .
  4. S2CID 35372823
    .
  5. ^ "HOPS: H2O southern Galactic Plane Survey". research.science.mq.edu.au.
  6. doi:10.1016/S0273-1177(02)00627-0
    .

External links

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