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 Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomer ...

. The acronyms listed below were placed into one or more of these categories: * Astrophysics terminology – ''physics-related acronyms'' *

Catalog Catalog or catalogue may refer to: *Cataloging **'emmy on the 'og **in science and technology ***Library catalog, a catalog of books and other media ****Union catalog, a combined library catalog describing the collections of a number of libraries ...

– ''collections of tabulated scientific data'' * Communications network – ''any network that functions primarily to communicate with

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

rather than performing astronomy'' * Data – ''astrophysical data not associated with any single catalog or observing program'' *

Celestial object An astronomical object, celestial object, stellar object or heavenly body is a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists in the observable universe. In astronomy, the terms ''object'' and ''body'' are often u ...

– ''acronyms for natural objects in space and for adjectives applied to objects in space'' *

Instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...

– ''telescope and other spacecraft equipment, particularly detectors such as imagers and

spectrometer A spectrometer () is a scientific instrument used to separate and measure spectral components of a physical phenomenon. Spectrometer is a broad term often used to describe instruments that measure a continuous variable of a phenomenon where the ...

s'' * 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 A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

– ''any spacecraft except space telescopes'' *

Telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observ ...

– ''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 ROSAT (short for Röntgensatellit; in German X-rays are called Röntgenstrahlen, in honour of Wilhelm Röntgen) was a German Aerospace Center-led satellite X-ray telescope, with instruments built by West Germany, the United Kingdom and the Uni ...

X-ray HRI, ''a catalog of sources detected by

in pointed observations with its High Resolution Imager'' * 1RXS – (''catalog'') 1

X-ray Survey, ''a catalog of sources detected by

in an all-sky survey'' * 2dF – (''instrumentation'') Two-degree field, ''spectrograph on the

Anglo-Australian Telescope The Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) is a 3.9-metre equatorially mounted telescope operated by the Australian Astronomical Observatory and situated at the Siding Spring Observatory, Australia, at an altitude of a little over 1,100 m. In 2 ...

'' * 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'' *

2MASS The Two Micron All-Sky Survey, or 2MASS, was an astronomical survey of the whole sky in infrared light. It took place between 1997 and 2001, in two different locations: at the U.S. Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins, Arizona, and ...

– (''observing program''/''catalog'') Two-Micron All Sky Survey, ''an all-sky survey in the

near-infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of Light, visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from ...

; 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'' * 2SLAQ – (''observing program'') 2dF- SDSS 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 *

AMBER Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In ...

– (''telescope'') a near-infrared interferometric instrument at

VLTI The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is a telescope facility operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It consists of four individual telescopes, each with a primary mirror 8.2 m across ...

AAVSO The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) is an international nonprofit organization, founded in 1911, focused on coordinating, analyzing, publishing, and archiving variable star observations made largely by amateur astronomers ...

– (''organization'') American Association of Variable Star Observers *

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group ...

– ADC Backend For Bolometer Array *

ABRIXAS A Broadband Imaging X-ray All-sky Survey, or ABRIXAS was a space-based German X-ray telescope. It was launched on 28 April 1999 in a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle from Kapustin Yar, Russia, into Earth orbit. The orbit had a periapsis of , an apoaps ...

– (''observing program'') A BRoadband Imaging X-ray All-sky Survey * AC – (''catalog'') Catalogue Astrographique *

ACE An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...

– (''spacecraft'') Advanced Composition Explorer * ACIS – (''instrumentation'') Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer, ''an instrument on the

Chandra X-Ray Observatory The Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), previously known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), is a Flagship-class space telescope launched aboard the during STS-93 by NASA on July 23, 1999. Chandra is sensitive to X-ray sources 1 ...

'' * ACM – (''meeting'') Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors * ACP – (''instrumentation'') – Aerosol Collector and Pyrolyser, ''an instrument on the

Huygens probe ''Huygens'' ( ) was an atmospheric entry robotic space probe that landed successfully on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005. Built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), launched by NASA, it was part of the ''Cassini–Huygens'' mission and ...

'' * ACS – (''instrumentation'') Advanced Camera for Surveys, ''an instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope'' * ACV – (''celestial object'') Alpha Canes Venatici, ''a class of rotating

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as e ...

s 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

s 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 ADC may refer to: Science and medicine * ADC (gene), a human gene * AIDS dementia complex, neurological disorder associated with HIV and AIDS * Allyl diglycol carbonate or CR-39, a polymer * Antibody-drug conjugate, a type of anticancer treatm ...

– (''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 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

br>astrophysics data system
an on-line database of almost all astronomical publications * ADIS – (''organization'') Astrophysics Data and Information Services *

ADS" \n\nads.txt (Authorized Digital Sellers) is an initiative from IAB Technology Laboratory. It specifies a text file that companies can host on their web servers, listing the other companies authorized to sell their products or services. This is des ...

– (''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 The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of aerospace warfighting technologies, pl ...

'' * AFOEV – (''organization'') Association française des observateurs d'étoiles variables * AG – (''organization'') Astronomische Gesellschaft *

AGAPE In Christianity, agape (; ) is "the highest form of love, charity" and "the love of God for man and of man for God". This is in contrast to philia, brotherly love, or philautia, self-love, as it embraces a deep and profound sacrificial love ...

– (''observing program'') Andromeda Galaxy and Amplified Pixels Experiment, ''a search for

microlens A microlens is a small lens, generally with a diameter less than a millimetre (mm) and often as small as 10 micrometres (µm). The small sizes of the lenses means that a simple design can give good optical quality but sometimes unwanted effects ...

es in front of the

Andromeda Galaxy The Andromeda Galaxy (IPA: ), also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224 and originally the Andromeda Nebula, is a barred spiral galaxy with the diameter of about approximately from Earth and the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way. The gal ...

'' * AGB – (''celestial object'') asymptotic giant branch, ''a type of

red giant star A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses ()) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around or ...

'' * AGC – (''catalog'')

Arecibo Arecibo (; ) is a city and municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Utuado and Ciales; east of Hatillo; and west of Barceloneta and Florida. It is about west of San Juan, th ...

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 cloud Noctilucent clouds, or night shining clouds, are tenuous cloud-like phenomena in the upper atmosphere of Earth. When viewed from space, they are called polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs), detectable as a diffuse scattering layer of water ice cryst ...

s'' * AIPS – (''software'') Astronomical Image Processing System * AJ – (''publication'') Astronomical Journal * ALaMO – (''organization'') Automated Lunar and Meteor Observatory *

ALEXIS Alexis may refer to: People Mononym * Alexis (poet) ( – ), a Greek comic poet * Alexis (sculptor), an ancient Greek artist who lived around the 3rd or 4th century BC * Alexis (singer) (born 1968), German pop singer * Alexis (comics) (1946–1977 ...

– (''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 * AMANDA – (''telescope'') Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array, ''a

neutrino telescope A neutrino detector is a physics apparatus which is designed to study neutrinos. Because neutrinos only weakly interact with other particles of matter, neutrino detectors must be very large to detect a significant number of neutrinos. Neutrino d ...

'' * AMASE – (''software'') Astrophysics Multi-spectral Archive Search Engine * AMS – (''organization'') American Meteor Society * AN – (''publication'') Astronomische Nachrichten, ''a German scientific journal'' *

ANS Ans or ANS or ''variation'', may refer to: Places * Ans, Belgium, a municipality in Belgium * Ans, Denmark, a village in Denmark * Angus, Scotland, UK; a council area by its Chapman code * Ainsdale railway station, England, UK (by station code ...

– (''telescope'') Astronomical Netherlands Satellite *

– (''organization'') Astro News Service *

ANSI The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organi ...

– (''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 Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is a website provided by NASA and Michigan Technological University (MTU). According to the website, "Each day a different image or photograph of our universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written ...

– (''data'') Astronomy Picture of the Day *

APT Apt. is an abbreviation for apartment. Apt may also refer to: Places * Apt Cathedral, a former cathedral, and national monument of France, in the town of Apt in Provence * Apt, Vaucluse, a commune of the Vaucluse département of France * A ...

– (''telescope'') Automated Patrol Telescope * ARC – (''organization'') Ames Research Center * ARC – (''organization'') Astrophysical Research Consortium *

ARCADE Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

– a balloon satellite experiment to measure the heating of the

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. ...

by the first

stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

and 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 * ASI – (''organization'') Agenzia Spaziale Italiana * ASIAA – (''organization'') Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics *

ASKAP The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a radio telescope array located at Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The facility began as a technology demonstrator for the in ...

– (''telescope'') Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, a next-generation radio telescope under construction in Western Australia. It differs from previous radio-telescopes in having many

pixels In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the sm ...

at the

focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...

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 The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization incorporated in 1984 whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to use this knowledge to inspire and guide present and futu ...

to search for possible signals from extraterrestrial life'' * ATCA – (''telescope'') Australia Telescope Compact Array
ATLAS
– (''observing program'') Australia Telescope Large Area Survey, a deep radio astronomical

sky survey An astronomical survey is a general map or image of a region of the sky (or of the whole sky) that lacks a specific observational target. Alternatively, an astronomical survey may comprise a set of images, spectra, or other observations of obj ...

of tw
SWIRE
fields covering a total of about 7 square degrees of sky. * ATM – (''person'') hobbyist engaged in ''

Amateur telescope making ''Amateur Telescope Making'' (''ATM'') is a series of three books edited by Albert G. Ingalls between 1926 and 1953 while he was an associate editor at ''Scientific American''. The books cover various aspects of telescope construction and obser ...

'' (may also refer to the book of the same title,

Amateur Telescope Making ''Amateur Telescope Making'' (''ATM'') is a series of three books edited by Albert G. Ingalls between 1926 and 1953 while he was an associate editor at ''Scientific American''. The books cover various aspects of telescope construction and obser ...

) * 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 The Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), previously known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), is a Flagship-class space telescope launched aboard the during STS-93 by NASA on July 23, 1999. Chandra is sensitive to X-ray sources 1 ...

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 Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * 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 The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) was a space observatory detecting photons with energies from 20 k eV to 30 GeV, in Earth orbit from 1991 to 2000. The observatory featured four main telescopes in one spacecraft, covering X-ra ...

'' *

BATTeRS Batter or batters may refer to: Common meanings * Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan * Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher * Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting * Batter ...

– (''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

s for which

Beta Cephei Beta Cephei (β Cephei, abbreviated Beta Cep, β Cep) is a triple star system of the third magnitude in the constellation of Cepheus. Based on parallax measurements obtained during the Hipparcos mission, it is approximately 690 light-y ...

is the archetypal object'' ** ''also'' BCE * BCG – (''celestial object'') Blue compact galaxy, ''another name for a 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 An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not prod ...

* 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 Bima (Indonesia: ''Kota Bima'') is a city on the eastern coast of the island of Sumbawa in central Indonesia's province West Nusa Tenggara. It is the largest city on the island of Sumbawa, with a population of 142,443 at the 2010 census and 155,1 ...

– (''organization'' & ''telescope'') Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association, and also B-M-I Array, ''

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ra ...

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 * BLLAC – (''celestial object'') BL LACertae, ''a class of

active galaxies An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not pr ...

for which

BL Lacertae BL Lacertae or ''BL Lac'' is a highly variable, extragalactic active galactic nucleus (AGN or active galaxy). It was first discovered by Cuno Hoffmeister in 1929, but was originally thought to be an irregular variable star in the Milky Way gal ...

is the archetypal object'' ** ''also'' BLL *

BLAST Blast or The Blast may refer to: *Explosion, a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner *Detonation, an exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front Film * ''Blast'' (1997 film), ...

– (''telescope'') – Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope * BLR – (''astrophysics term'') the broad line region of the AGN *

BNSC The British National Space Centre (BNSC) was an agency of the Government of the United Kingdom, organised in 1985, that coordinated civil space activities for the United Kingdom. It was replaced on 1 April 2010 by the United Kingdom Space Age ...

– (''organization'') British National Space Centre, ''the older name for UKSA'' *

BOAO Bo'ao/Boao () is a town located next to the eastern coastal city of Qionghai in Hainan Province, People's Republic of China, near the mouth of the Wanquan River where it discharges into the South China Sea. The town is away from Qionghai, awa ...

– (''observatory'') Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory, ''in Korea'' *

BOOMERanG A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning ...

– (''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

s for which BY Draconis is the archetypal object''

C

* C – First Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources, 2C ( Second Cambridge Catalog), 3C ( Third Cambridge Catalog)... * CADC – (''organization'') Canadian Astronomy Data Centre * CAHA – (''organization'') Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán, ''a German-Spanish Astronomical Centre'' * CANDELS – (''survey'') Cosmic Assembly Near-Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey or Cosmic Assembly and Dark Energy Legacy Survey *

CAPS Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

– (''instrumentation'') Cassini Plasma Spectrometer, ''an instrument on the Cassini spacecraft'' *

CARA Cara or CARA may refer to: Places * Čara, a village on the island of Korčula, Croatia * Cara, a village in Cojocna Commune, Cluj County, Romania * Cara Island Cara Island ( gd, Cara) is a small island which is located off the west coast o ...

– (''organization'') California Association for Research in Astronomy * CANGAROO – Collaboration between Australian and Nippon for a Gamma Ray Observatory *

– (''organization'') Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica * CASCA – (''organization'') Canadian Astronomical Society / Société canadienne d'astronomie (the name is officially bilingual) * CARMA – an array *

CASS Cass may refer to: People and fictional characters * Cass (surname), a list of people * Cass (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Big Cass, ring name of wrestler William Morrissey * Cass, in British band Skunk Anansie * Ca ...

– (''organization'') Center for Advanced Space Studies * CASS – (''organization'') Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, an interdisciplinary research unit at

UC San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

* CBAT – (''organization'') Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams * CBE – Collisionless Boltzmann Equation * CBR – (''celestial object'') cosmic background radiation * CC – (''celestial object'') candidate companion, ''a newly detected observed object that initially appears to orbit another celestial object'' * CCD – (''instrumentation'') Charge-coupled device * CCD – (''astrophysics terminology'') – Color–color diagram, ''a plot that compares the differences between magnitudes in different wave bands'' * CCDM – (''catalog'') Catalog of Components of Double and Multiple Stars * CCO – (''catalog'') Catalogue of Cometary Orbits * CCO – (''celestial object'') central compact object, ''a

compact star In astronomy, the term compact star (or compact object) refers collectively to white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. It would grow to include exotic stars if such hypothetical, dense bodies are confirmed to exist. All compact objects ha ...

in the center of a

planetary nebula A planetary nebula (PN, plural PNe) is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer because they are unrelate ...

'' * CCS – (''celestial object'') cool carbon star *

CCSFS Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the statio ...

– Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a United States Space Force launch base * CD – (''catalog'') Cordoba Durchmusterung * CDFS – Chandra Deep Field South * CDIMP – (''catalog'') Catalogue of Discoveries and Identifications of Minor Planets * CDM – (''astrophysics terminology'') Cold Dark Matter, ''any model for structure formation in the universe that characterize "cold" particles such as

WIMPs Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are hypothetical particles that are one of the proposed candidates for dark matter. There exists no formal definition of a WIMP, but broadly, a WIMP is a new elementary particle which interacts via gra ...

dark matter Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not a ...

'' *

CDS The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

– (''organization'') Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg * CELT – (''telescope'') – California Extremely Large Telescope, ''an older name for the Thirty Meter Telescope'' * CEMP – (''celestial object'') Carbon-enhanced metal-poor, ''a type of carbon star'' ** CEMP-no – (''celestial object'') Carbon-enhanced metal-poor star with no enhancement of elements produced by the r-process or s-process

nucleosynthesis Nucleosynthesis is the process that creates new atomic nuclei from pre-existing nucleons (protons and neutrons) and nuclei. According to current theories, the first nuclei were formed a few minutes after the Big Bang, through nuclear reactions in ...

** CEMP-r – (''celestial object'') Carbon-enhanced metal-poor star with an enhancement of elements produced by r-process

** CEMP-s – (''celestial object'') Carbon-enhanced metal-poor star with an enhancement of elements produced by s-process

** CEMP-r/s – (''celestial object'') Carbon-enhanced metal-poor star with an enhancement of elements produced by both r-process and s-process

* CEP – (''celestial object'') CEPheid, ''a type of pulsating

'' * CEPS – (''organization'') Center for Earth and Planetary Studies * CfA – (''organization'') Center for Astrophysics * CFHT – (''telescope'') Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope * CFRS – (''observing program''), Canada–France Redshift Survey * CG – (''astrophysics terminology'') Center of gravity * CG – (''celestial object'') Cometary Globule, ''a

Bok globule In astronomy, Bok globules are isolated and relatively small dark nebulae, containing dense cosmic dust and gas from which star formation may take place. Bok globules are found within H II regions, and typically have a mass of about 2 to 50 solar ...

that show signs of a tail-like extension'' * CG – (''celestial object'') Compact galaxy * CGCS – (''celestial object'') Cool galactic carbon star * CGRO – (''telescope'') Compton Gamma Ray Observatory * CGSS – (''catalog'') Catalogue of Galactic S Stars * CHARA – (''organization'') Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy * CHeB – (''celestial object'') Core Helium Burning *

CHIPSat CHIPS (Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer, also Explorer 82 or UNEX-2) was a NASA Explorer program satellite. It was launched on 12 January 2003 from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Delta II with the larger satellite ICESat, and h ...

– Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer satellite * CIAO – (''software'') Chandra Interactive Analysis of Observations, ''software for processing

data'' * CIAO – (''instrumentation'') Coronagraphic Imager with Adaptive Optics, ''an instrument for the Subaru Telescope'' * CIBR – (''celestial object'') Cosmic infrared background radiation ** ''also'' CIB * CIDA – (''instrumentation'') Cometary Interplanetary Dust Analyzer, ''an instrument on the Stardust spacecraft'' *

CINDI CINDI, or the Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigation is a NASA mission of opportunity payload aboard the C/NOFS satellite. Mission of opportunity is part of the Explorer program The Explorers program is a NASA exploration program that pr ...

– Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigation * CINEOS – (''observing program'')

Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Object Survey The CINEOS program (Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Object Survey), started in 2001, is dedicated to the discovery and follow-up of near-Earth objects (NEOs), namely asteroids and comets which periodically approach or intersect the Earth's orbit. In ...

* CIO – (''catalog'') Catalog of Infrared Observations * CISCO – (''instrumentation'') Cooled Infrared Spectrograph and Camera for OHS, ''an instrument for the Subaru Telescope'' * CM – (''astrophysics terminology'') center of mass * CMB – (''celestial object'') cosmic microwave background radiation ** ''also'' CMBR, CBR, MBR * CMC – (''catalog'') Carlsberg Meridian Catalogue * CMD – (''astrophysics terminology'') color–magnitude diagram, ''the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram or similar diagrams'' ** ''also'' CM * CME – coronal mass ejection * CNB – (''celestial object'') cosmic neutrino background *

CNES The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...

– (''organization'') Centre Nationale d'Etudes Spatiales, ''the French Space Agency'' * CNO – (''astrophysics terminology'') Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen, ''a sequence of nuclear fusion processes'' * CNR – (''organization'') Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche * CNSR – (''spacecraft'') Comet nucleus sample return * COBE – (''telescope'') Cosmic Background Explorer, ''a space telescope used to study the

cosmic microwave background radiation In Big Bang cosmology the cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR) is electromagnetic radiation that is a remnant from an early stage of the universe, also known as "relic radiation". The CMB is faint cosmic background radiation filling all space ...

'' * COHSI – (''instrumentation'') Cambridge OH-Suppression Instrument * Col – (''catalog'') Collinder catalog * COMICS – (''instrumentation'') COoled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer, ''an instrument for the Subaru Telescope'' * CGRO – (''telescope'') COMPton TELescope, ''another name for the

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) was a space observatory detecting photons with photon energy, energies from 20 kElectronvolt#Properties, eV to 30 GeV, in Earth orbit from 1991 to 2000. The observatory featured four main tele ...

'' *

COROT CoRoT (French: ; English: Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) was a space telescope mission which operated from 2006 to 2013. The mission's two objectives were to search for extrasolar planets with short orbital periods, particularly th ...

– (''telescope'') COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits, ''a space telescope for detecting

extrasolar planet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

s'' *

COSMOS The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

– (''observing program'') Cosmic Evolution Survey *

COSPAR The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established on October 3, 1958 by the International Council for Scientific Unions (ICSU). Among COSPAR's objectives are the promotion of scientific research in space on an international level, wi ...

– (''organization'') COmmittee on SPAce Research *

COSTAR CoStar Group, Inc. is a Washington, DC-based provider of information, analytics and marketing services to the commercial property industry in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain. Founded in 1987 by Andrew C. ...

– (''instrumentation'') Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement, ''corrective optics for the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most vers ...

'' * CP – (''astrophysics terminology'') Chemically peculiar, ''stars with peculiar chemical compositions'' * CPD – (''catalog'') Cape Photographic Durchmusterung *

CRAF CRAF may refer to: * Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms * Civil Reserve Air Fleet * Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby * Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies * Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces See also * C-Raf RAF proto-oncogene serin ...

– (''spacecraft'') Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby *

CRRES The Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) was launched on July 25, 1990, into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) for a nominal three-year mission to investigate fields, plasmas, and energetic particles inside the Earth's ...

– Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite *

CSA CSA may refer to: Arts and media * Canadian Screen Awards, annual awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television * Commission on Superhuman Activities, a fictional American government agency in Marvel Comics * Crime Syndicate of Amer ...

– (''organization'') Canadian Space Agency * CSBN – (''organization'') Committee for Small-Body Nomenclature * CSE – (''celestial object'') circumstellar envelope, ''a roughly spherical

formed from dense stellar wind if not present before the formation of a star.'' * CSI – (''catalog'') Catalog of Stellar Identification, ''a compilation of the catalogs, BD, CD, and CPD'' * CSO – (''telescope'') Caltech Submillimeter Observatory *CSP – (''astrophysics terminology'') composite stellar population * CSPN – (''celestial object'') central star of

** ''also'' CSPNe (''plural form of'' CSPN) * CSS – (''observing program'') Catalina Sky Survey * CST – (''astrophysics terminology'') ConStanT, ''non-variable stars'' * CSV – (''catalog'') Catalog of Suspected Variables * CTIO – (''telescope''/''organization'') Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory * CTTS – (''celestial object'') Classical T-Tauri Star * CV – (''celestial object'') cataclysmic variable, ''a type of

variable Variable may refer to: * Variable (computer science), a symbolic name associated with a value and whose associated value may be changed * Variable (mathematics), a symbol that represents a quantity in a mathematical expression, as used in many ...

binary Binary may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two digits (0 and 1) * Binary function, a function that takes two arguments * Binary operation, a mathematical operation that ta ...

star system that contains a

white dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

and a companion star that changes'' * CW – (''celestial object'') Cepheid W Virginis, ''a class of

Cepheid A Cepheid variable () is a type of star that pulsates radially, varying in both diameter and temperature and producing changes in brightness with a well-defined stable period and amplitude. A strong direct relationship between a Cepheid varia ...

s named after W Virginis, the archetype for the class'' ** CWA – (''celestial object'') Cepheid W Virginis A, ''a subclass of CW stars that vary in brightness on timescales of less than 8 days'' ** CWB – (''celestial object'') Cepheid W Virginis B, ''a subclass of CW stars that vary in brightness on timescales greater than 8 days'' * CXBR – (''celestial object'') Cosmic x-ray background radiation * CXO – (''catalog'') Chandra X-ray Observation, ''a catalog based from the

Chandra Chandra ( sa, चन्द्र, Candra, shining' or 'moon), also known as Soma ( sa, सोम), is the Hindu god of the Moon, and is associated with the night, plants and vegetation. He is one of the Navagraha (nine planets of Hinduism) a ...

space telescope''

D

DAO Dao, Dão or DAO may refer to: * Tao (Chinese: "The Way" 道), a philosophical concept * Dao (Chinese sword) (刀), a type of Chinese sword * Dao (Naga sword), a weapon and a tool of Naga people People and language * Yao people, a minority ethni ...

– (''organization'') Dominion Astrophysical Observatory * DCEP – (''celestial object'') Delta CEPhei, ''a class of

s named after Delta Cephei, the archetype for the class'' * DDEB – (''celestial object'') double-lined

eclipsing binary A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in w ...

* DENIS – (''observing program/catalog'') DEep Near Infrared Survey * DENIS-P – (''catalog'') DEep Near Infrared Survey, Provisory designation r also known as DNS * DES – (''observing program'') Dark Energy Survey *

DESI DESI may refer to * Desorption electrospray ionization * Drug Efficacy Study Implementation Drug Efficacy Study Implementation (DESI) was a program begun by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the 1960s after the requirement (in the Kefauve ...

- (''observing program'') Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument * DEC – Declination * DES – (''observing program'') Deep Ecliptic Survey * DIB – (''celestial object'') diffuse interstellar band, ''an absorption feature in

stellar spectra Astronomical spectroscopy is the study of astronomy using the techniques of spectroscopy to measure the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, ultraviolet, X-ray, infrared and radio waves that radiate from stars and othe ...

with an interstellar origin'' *

DIRBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) was an experiment on NASA's COBE mission, to survey the diffuse infrared sky. Measurements were made with a reflecting telescope with 19 cm diameter aperture.Riccardo Giacconi, Daniela Calzetti ...

– (''instrumentation'') Diffuse InfraRed Background Experiment, a multiwavelength infrared detector used to map dust emission * DISR – (''instrumentation'') – Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer, ''an instrument on the

'' * DMR – (''instrumentation'') Differential Microwave Radiometer, a microwave instrument that would map variations (or anisotropies) in the CMB * DM – dark matter, the unidentified non-

baryon In particle physics, a baryon is a type of composite subatomic particle which contains an odd number of valence quarks (at least 3). Baryons belong to the hadron family of particles; hadrons are composed of quarks. Baryons are also classif ...

ic matter * DN – (''celestial object'') Dwarf nova * DNS – (''celestial object'') double

neutron star A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. w ...

, ''another name for a binary neutron star system''. aution: Do not confuse with DNS relating to DENIS – Deep Near Infrared Survey * DOG – (''celestial object'')

dust Dust is made of fine particles of solid matter. On Earth, it generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil lifted by wind (an aeolian process), volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in ho ...

-obscured galaxy, a galaxy with an unusually high ratio of infrared-to-optical emission, implying strong dust absorption and re-emission. * 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

s named after

Delta Scuti Delta Scuti, Latinized from δ Scuti, is a variable star in the southern constellation Scutum. With an apparent visual magnitude that fluctuates around 4.72, it is the fifth-brightest star in this small and otherwise undistinguished c ...

, the archetype for the class'' * DSN – (''communications network'') Deep Space Network, ''a network of radio antennas used for communicating to

'' * DSS – (''data'') Digitized Sky Survey * DSFG - (''celestial object'') Dusty Star Forming Galaxy * DWE – (''instrumentation'') – Doppler Wind Experiment, ''an instrument on the

E

* E – (''celestial object'') Eclipsing, ''a

binary star system A binary star is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved using a telescope as separate stars, in wh ...

with

brightness in which the stars eclipse each other'' ** EA – (''celestial object'') Eclipsing Algol, ''a class of eclipsing binary stars named after

Algol ALGOL (; short for "Algorithmic Language") is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in 1958. ALGOL heavily influenced many other languages and was the standard method for algorithm description used by the ...

, the archetype for the class'' ** EB – (''celestial object'') Eclipsing Beta Lyrae, ''a class of eclipsing binary stars named after

Beta Lyrae Beta Lyrae (β Lyrae, abbreviated Beta Lyr, β Lyr) officially named Sheliak (Arabic: الشلياق, Romanization: ash-Shiliyāq) ( IPA: ), the traditional name of the system, is a multiple star system in the constellation of Lyra. Ba ...

, 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 The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is an astronomical observatory currently under construction. When completed, it is planned to be the world's largest optical/near-infrared extremely large telescope. Part of the European Southern Observatory ...

– (''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

s'' * EGP – (''celestial object'') extrasolar giant planet *

EGRET Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...

– (''telescope'') Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope, ''another name for the

'' * EGS – Extended Groth Strip, a 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 * EKBO – (''celestial object'') Edgeworth–Kuiper belt object, ''an alternative name for

Kuiper belt object The Kuiper belt () is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune at 30 astronomical units (AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 time ...

s'' * 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 Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...

and

helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...

''
EMU
– Evolutionary Map of the Universe * ENACS – (''observing program'') ESO Nearby Abell Cluster Survey, ''a survey of

galaxy cluster A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. They are the second-lar ...

s'' * EPIC – (''celestial object'') stars and exoplanets, associated with the K2 "Second Light" plan of the

Kepler space telescope The Kepler space telescope is a disused space telescope launched by NASA in 2009 to discover Earth-sized Exoplanet, planets orbiting other stars. Named after astronomer Johannes Kepler, the spacecraft was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocen ...

ERO ''Ero'' is a genus of pirate spiders first described in 1836. They resemble comb-footed spiders due to their globular abdomen, which is higher than it is long. Description The upper side of their abdomen bears one or two pairs of conical tu ...

– (''celestial object'') extremely red object, ''a name applied to galaxies with red spectra'' *

ESA , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

– (''organization'') European Space Agency * ESO – (''organization'') European Southern Observatory *

ESTEC The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) is the European Space Agency's main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology. It is situated in Noordwijk, South Holland, in the western Netherlands, alt ...

– (''organization'') European Space research and TEchnology Centre *

ESTRACK The European Space Tracking (ESTRACK) network consists of a number of ground-based space-tracking stations belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA), and operated by the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The station ...

– (''communications network'') European Space TRACKing, ''a network of radio antennas used for communicating to

'' *

ETC * Etc. or et cetera, a Latin expression meaning "and the other things" or "and the rest". ETC or etc may also refer to: Companies and organizations * ETC (Chilean TV channel), a Chilean cable television channel * ETC (Philippine TV channel), a P ...

– exposure time calculator *

EUV Extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV or XUV) or high- energy ultraviolet radiation is electromagnetic radiation in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum spanning wavelengths from 124 nm down to 10 nm, and therefore (by the Planck ...

– (''astrophysics terminology'') Extreme ultraviolet *

EUVE The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE or Explorer 67) was a NASA space telescope for ultraviolet astronomy. EUVE was a part of NASA's Explorer spacecraft series. Launched on 7 June 1992. With instruments for ultraviolet (UV) radiation between ...

– (''telescope'') Extreme UltraViolet Explorer, ''an

ultraviolet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 PHz) to 400 nm (750 THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation ...

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 The Fornax Cluster is a cluster of galaxies lying at a distance of 19 megaparsecs (62 million light-years). It has an estimated mass of solar masses, making it the second richest galaxy cluster within 100 million light-years, after the consider ...

'' * 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

'' * FHST – (''instrumentation'') Fixed Head Star Trackers, ''an instrument on the

'' * FIR – (''astrophysics terminology'') far infrared *

FIRST First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

– (''observing program'') Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, ''a radio survey of the sky with the

Very Large Array The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) is a centimeter-wavelength radio astronomy observatory located in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena and Datil, ~ west of Socorro. The VLA comprises twent ...

'' *

– (''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 A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

galaxy formation The study of galaxy formation and evolution is concerned with the processes that formed a heterogeneous universe from a homogeneous beginning, the formation of the first galaxies, the way galaxies change over time, and the processes that have ge ...

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 Float may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Albums * ''Float'' (Aesop Rock album), 2000 * ''Float'' (Flogging Molly album), 2008 * ''Float'' (Styles P album), 2013 Songs * "Float" (Tim and the Glory Boys song), 2022 * "Float", by Bush ...

– (''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

'' * 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 Forte or Forté may refer to: Music *Forte (music), a musical dynamic meaning "loudly" or "strong" * Forte number, an ordering given to every pitch class set * Forte (notation program), a suite of musical score notation programs * Forte (vocal ...

– Fast On-orbit Rapid Recording of Transient Events * FOS – (''instrumentation'') Faint Object Spectrograph, ''a

formerly on the

'' * 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 In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten milli ...

over time'' * FSC – (''catalog'') Faint Source Catalogue, ''one of the catalogs produced using

Infrared Astronomical Satellite The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Dutch: ''Infrarood Astronomische Satelliet'') (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths. Launched on 25 January 1983, its mission lasted ten mon ...

data'' *FSRQ – (''celestial object'') Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars * FTL – (''astrophysics terminology'') faster than light * FUOR – (''celestial object'') FU Orionis objects, '' a class of

pre–main sequence stars named after

FU Orionis FU Orionis is a variable and binary star system in the constellation of Orion, that in 1937 rose in apparent visual magnitude from 16.5 to 9.6, and has since been around magnitude 9. The name ''FU Orionis'' is a variable star designati ...

, the archetype for the class'' ** ''also'' FU * FUSE – (''telescope'') Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, ''an

space telescope'' * FUVITA – (''instrumentation'') Far UltraViolet Imaging Telescope Array, ''an

imager for the 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

* G – (''catalog'') Giclas, ''a catalog of nearby stars'' * GAIA – (''telescope'') Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics, ''a space telescope that is used to make high-precision measurements of stars'' * GALEX – (''telescope'') Galaxy Evolution Explorer, ''an

space telescope'' ** GALEXASC –

GALaxy Evolution eXplorer Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX or Explorer 83 or SMEX-7) was a NASA orbiting space telescope designed to observe the universe in ultraviolet wavelengths to measure the history of star formation in the universe. In addition to paving the way ...

all-sky catalog *

GASP Paralanguage, also known as vocalics, is a component of meta-communication that may modify meaning, give nuanced meaning, or convey emotion, by using techniques such as prosody, pitch, volume, intonation, etc. It is sometimes defined as relati ...

– (''software'') Guide star Astrometric Support Package * GAT – (''catalog'') AO (Gatewood+), ''catalog of G. Gatewood's observations'' * GBM – (''instrumentation'') Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor, a set of gamma ray detectors on the

Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST, also FGRST), formerly called the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), is a space observatory being used to perform gamma-ray astronomy observations from low Earth orbit. Its main instrument is ...

* GBT – (''telescope'') Green Bank Telescope * GC – (''catalog'') General Catalog, ''a catalog of clusters, nebulae, and galaxies created by John Herschel and now superseded by the New General Catalogue'', also

globular cluster A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars. Globular clusters are bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards their centers. They can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of membe ...

* GCAS – (''celestial object'') Gamma CASsiopeiae, ''a class of eruptive

variable stars A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as e ...

named after

Gamma Cassiopeiae Gamma Cassiopeiae, Latinized from γ Cassiopeiae, is a bright star at the center of the distinctive "W" asterism in the northern circumpolar constellation of Cassiopeia. Although it is a fairly bright star with an apparent visual mag ...

, the archetype for the class'' * GCMS – (''instrumentation'') – Gas Chromatograph and Mass Spectrometer, ''an instrument on the

'' ** also GC/MS * GCN – (''organization'') GRB Coordinates Network * GCR – (''astrophysics terminology'') galactic cosmic rays *

GCVS The General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS) is a list of variable stars. Its first edition, containing 10,820 stars, was published in 1948 by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and edited by B. V. Kukarkin and P. P. Parenago. Second and thi ...

– (''catalog'') the General Catalog of Variable Stars * GD – (''catalog'') Giclas Dwarf, ''a catalog of

'' * GDS – (''celestial object'') Great Dark Spot, ''a transient feature in the clouds of Neptune'' * GEM – (''observing program'') Galactic Emission Mapping * GEM – (''observing program'') Galileo Europa Mission, ''the science observation program of Europa performed by the Galileo spacecraft'' * GEM – (''observing program'') Giotto Extended Mission, ''the extended operations of the

Giotto spacecraft ''Giotto'' was a European robotic spacecraft mission from the European Space Agency. The spacecraft flew by and studied Halley's Comet and in doing so became the first spacecraft to make close up observations of a comet. On 13 March 1986, the ...

'' * GEMS – (''organization'') Group Evolution Multi-wavelength Study * GEMS – (''survey'') Galaxy Evolution from Morphology and Spectral energy distributions * GEMSS – (''organization'') Global Exoplanet M-dwarf Search-Survey, ''a search for

exoplanets An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

around m-dwarf stars'' * GEODDS – (''telescope'') Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance, ''a network of telescopes used in a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

program for observing

space junk Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, or space garbage) are defunct human-made objects in space—principally in Earth orbit—which no longer serve a useful function. These include derelict spacec ...

'' * GEOS – (''organization'') Groupe Européen Observations Stellaires, an amateur and professional association for study of variable stars.
GERLUMPH
– (''instrumentation'') GPU-Enabled, High Resolution MicroLensing Parameter survey, where GPU is an acronym for Graphics Processing Unit. * GH – (''catalog'') Giclas Hyades, ''a catalog of stars in the Hyades cluster'' * GHRS – (''instrumentation'') Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph, ''a spectrograph on the

'' ** ''also'' HRS *

GIA ''Gia'' is a 1998 American biographical drama television film about the life and times of one of the first supermodels, Gia Carangi. The film stars Angelina Jolie as Gia and Faye Dunaway as Wilhelmina Cooper, with Mercedes Ruehl and Elizabeth M ...

– (''organization'') Gruppo Italiano Astrometristi * GIMI – (''instrumentation'') Global Imaging Monitor of the Ionosphere, ''an

imager on the Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite'' * GJ – (''catalog'') Gliese & Jahreiß/Jahreiss nearby star catalog * GL – (''catalog'') Gliese nearby star catalog * GLAST – (''telescope'') Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope * GLIMPSE – (''observing program'') Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire * GMC – (''celestial object'') Giant molecular cloud * GMF – (''celestial object'') Galactic magnetic field * GMRT – (''telescope'') – Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope - Pune, India *

GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...

– (''telescope'') – Giant Magellan Telescope, ''a telescope being built by a US-Australian collaboration'' *

GONG A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

– (''organization'') Global Oscillation Network Group, ''an organization that monitors oscillations in the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

'' * GOLD –

Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) is a heliophysics Mission of Opportunity (MOU) for NASA's Explorers program. Led by Richard Eastes at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, which is located at the University of ...

GOODS In economics, goods are items that satisfy human wants and provide utility, for example, to a consumer making a purchase of a satisfying product. A common distinction is made between goods which are transferable, and services, which are not t ...

– (''survey'') Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey ''a survey of various redshifts to study galactic formation and evolution'' * GP – (''astrophysics terminology'') giant pulses, ''a type of observed pulse emission from pulsars'' * GPS – (''astrophysics teminology'') GHz-peaked spectrum, ''the radio or

spectra of some galaxies'' * GR – (''astrophysics terminology'') general relativity * GR – (''catalog'') Giclas Red dwarf, ''a catalog of red dwarfs'' * GRB – (''celestial object'') gamma ray burst * GRO – (''telescope'') Gamma Ray Observatory, ''another name for the

'' * GROSCE – (''telescope'') Gamma Ray Burst Optical Counterparts Search Experiment, ''an automated telescope used to detect the optical counterparts to

gamma ray burst In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten millise ...

s'' * GRS – (''instrumentation'') Gamma Ray Spectrometer, ''an instrument on the

Mars Observer The ''Mars Observer'' spacecraft, also known as the ''Mars Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter'', was a robotic space probe launched by NASA on September 25, 1992, to study the Martian surface, atmosphere, climate and magnetic field. During the int ...

'' * GRS – (''celestial object'') Great Red Spot, ''a feature in the clouds of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

'' * GSC – (''catalog'') Guide Star Catalog, ''a catalog of stars used for pointing the

'' *

GSC2 GSC may refer to: Business * Global Security Challenge, a business competition * Golden Screen Cinemas, in Malaysia * Golden Star Resources, a Canadian gold mining company * Good Smile Company, a Japanese manufacturer of hobby products * GSC Enter ...

– (''catalog'') Guide Star Catalog version 2, ''a catalog of stars used for pointing the

'' ** ''also'' GSC II *

GSFC The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

– (''organization'') Goddard Space Flight Center, ''a

institution'' * GSPC – (''catalog'') Guide Star Photometric Catalog, ''a catalog of stars with precisely measured fluxes used to calibrate the

Guide Star Catalog The Guide Star Catalog (GSC), also known as the ''Hubble Space Telescope, Guide Catalog'' (''HSTGC''), is a star catalog compiled to support the Hubble Space Telescope with targeting off-axis stars. GSC-I contained approximately 20,000,000 stars w ...

'' * GTC – (''telescope'') Gran Telescopio Canarias, the 10.4 m reflecting telescope on the island of

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...

, Canary Islands, Spain * GW – (''celestial object'') – Gravitational Wave.

H

* HAeBe – (''celestial object'') Herbig AeBe star, ''a type of

pre-main-sequence star A pre-main-sequence star (also known as a PMS star and PMS object) is a star in the stage when it has not yet reached the main sequence. Earlier in its life, the object is a protostar that grows by acquiring mass from its surrounding envelope of ...

with strong spectral emission lines'' ** HAe – (''celestial object'') Herbig Ae star ** HBe – (''celestial object'') Herbig Be star *

HALCA HALCA (Highly Advanced Laboratory for Communications and Astronomy), also known for its project name VSOP (VLBI Space Observatory Programme), the code name MUSES-B (for the second of the Mu Space Engineering Spacecraft series), or just Haruka (� ...

– (''telescope'') Highly Advanced Laboratory for Communications and Astronomy, ''a satellite that is part of the VLBI Space Observatory Program, a Japanese

radio astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation comin ...

project'' * HAO – (''organization'') high-altitude observatory *

HARPS The High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) is a high-precision echelle planet-finding spectrograph installed in 2002 on the ESO's 3.6m telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile. The first light was achieved in February 2003. ...

– (''instrumentation'') High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher, ''a high-precision spectrograph installed on the

ESO 3.6 m Telescope The ESO 3.6 m Telescope is an optical reflecting telescope run by the European Southern Observatory at La Silla Observatory, Chile since 1977, with a clear aperture of about and area. The telescopes uses the HARPS instrument and has discovered ...

'' * HASI – (''instrumentation'') Huygens Atmosphere Structure Instrument, ''an instrument on the

'' * HB – (''celestial object'') horizontal branch, ''a type of evolved

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

s'' * HBMM – (''astrophysics terminology'') Hydrogen-burning minimum mass * HCG –

Hickson Compact Group A Hickson Compact Group (abbreviation: HCG) is a collection of galaxies designated as published by Paul Hickson in 1982. The most famous group on Hickson's list of 100 objects is HCG 92, Stephan's Quintet. Hickson Compact Groups According to Hi ...

* 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

; also the name for the data product itself'' ** HDFS –

Hubble Deep Field South The Hubble Deep Field South is a composite of several hundred individual images taken using the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 over 10 days in September and October 1998. It followed the great success of the original ...

* HDM – (''astrophysics terminology'') hot dark matter, any model for structure formation in the universe that characterizes

neutrino A neutrino ( ; denoted by the Greek letter ) is a fermion (an elementary particle with spin of ) that interacts only via the weak interaction and gravity. The neutrino is so named because it is electrically neutral and because its rest mass ...

s as

* HDS – (''instrumentation'') High Dispersion Spectrograph, ''a spectrograph on the Subaru Telescope'' * HE – (''catalog'') Hamburg/ESO Survey * HEAO – (''telescope'') High Energy Astronomical Observatory, ''a series of

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

and

gamma ray A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically ...

space telescopes'' * HEASARC – (''organization'') High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center, ''a

organization that deals with

and

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 Hess or Heß may refer to: * Hess (surname), also ''Heß'' in German, people with the surname Hess * Hess, Oklahoma, a community in the United States * Hess Educational Organization, the largest private provider of English instruction in the Rep ...

– (''telescope'') High Energy Stereoscopic System, ''a telescope for detecting

cosmic ray Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own ...

s'' * HET –

Hobby–Eberly Telescope The Hobby–Eberly Telescope (HET) is a 10-meter (30-foot) aperture telescope located at the McDonald Observatory in Davis Mountains, Texas. The Hobby–Eberly Telescope is one of the largest optical telescopes in the world. It combines a numb ...

* HETE – (''telescope'') High Energy Transient Explorer, ''a space telescope that performs multi-wavelength observations of

gamma-ray burst In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten millise ...

s'' * 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'' ** ''also'' HHO * 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

and

gamma-ray astronomy Gamma-ray astronomy is the astronomical observation of gamma rays,Astronomical literature generally hyphenates "gamma-ray" when used as an adjective, but uses "gamma ray" without a hyphen for the noun. the most energetic form of electromagneti ...

'' * HIP – (''catalog'') HIPPARCOS, ''the catalog of data produced by Hipparcos'' *

HIPASS The H I Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) is a large survey for neutral atomic hydrogen (H I). Most of the data was taken between 1997 and 2002 using CSIRO's 64 m Parkes Telescope. HIPASS covered 71% of the sky and identified more t ...

– (''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 The European Committee for Standardization ( CEN) Standard Architecture for Healthcare Information Systems (ENV 12967), Health Informatics Service Architecture or HISA is a standard that provides guidance on the development of modular open informat ...

– (''astrophysical terminology'') HI self-absorption region *

HIRAX The Hydrogen Intensity and Real-time Analysis eXperiment (HIRAX) is an interferometric array of 1024 6-meter (20 ft) diameter radio telescopes, operating at 400-800MHz, that will be deployed at the Square Kilometer Array site in the Karoo regi ...

– (''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 * HLIRG – (''celestial object'') Hyperluminous infrared galaxy, ''a galaxy that is brighter than 10¹³ solar luminosities in the

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

'' * HMC – (''instrumentation'') Halley Multicolor Camera, ''an instrument on the

'' * HMGB – (''celestial object'') High-mass gamma-ray binary, ''a

Gamma ray A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically ...

-luminous binary system consisting of a

and a

massive star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth m ...

'' * HMPO – (''celestial object'') High-mass proto-stellar object * HMXB – (''celestial object'') High-mass x-ray binary, ''an

-luminous binary system consisting of a

and a

'' * HOPS – The H₂O southern Galactic Plane Survey * 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

'' * HRD – (''instrumentation'') High Rate Detector, ''an instrument on the

Cassini spacecraft Cassini may refer to: People * Cassini (surname) * Oleg Cassini (1913-2006), American fashion designer :Cassini family: * Giovanni Domenico Cassini (1625–1712), Italian mathematician, astronomer, engineer, and astrologer * Jacques Cassini (1 ...

'' * HRMS – (''observing program'') High Resolution Microwave Survey, ''a survey for

signals from

extraterrestrial intelligence Extraterrestrial intelligence (often abbreviated ETI) refers to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrial life. The question of whether other inhabited worlds might exist has been debated since ancient times. The modern form of the concept emerged ...

'' * HRI – (''instrumentation'') High Resolution Imager, ''an instrument on the

telescope'' * HSP – (''instrumentation'') High Speed Photometer, ''an instrument formerly on the

'' * 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 A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, hid ...

– (''telescope'') Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, ''an ultraviolet telescope that operated from the cargo bay of the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

'' * 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 IAS may refer to: Science * Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States * Image Analysis & Stereology, the official journal of the International Society for Stereology & Image Analysis. * Iowa Archeological Society, Uni ...

– (''organization'') Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale * IASY – (''observing program'') International Active Sun Year, ''the name given to a series of coordinated

-related observational programs performed in 1969 and 1971'' *

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

– (''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 In mathematics, an integral assigns numbers to functions in a way that describes displacement, area, volume, and other concepts that arise by combining infinitesimal data. The process of finding integrals is called integration. Along wit ...

satellite'' * IBIS – (''instrumentation'') – Imager on Board the INTEGRAL Satellite, ''an instrument on the

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

s'' *

ICE Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaqu ...

– (''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 Light pollution is the presence of unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive use of artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting, during the day ...

'' * 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'' * IERS – (''organization'') International Earth Rotation geophysical Service ''or'' International Earth rotation and Reference systems Service, ''an organization that monitors the Earth's orientation with respect to the radio sources used to define the ICRF'' * IfA: either

Institute for Astronomy (Hawaii) The Institute for Astronomy (IfA) is a research unit within the University of Hawaii system, led by Doug Simons as Director. IfA main headquarters are located at 2680 Woodlawn Drive in Honolulu, Hawaii, , adjacent to the University of Hawaii at Mā ...

or Institute for Astronomy,

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh School of Physics and Astronomy is the physics department of the University of Edinburgh. The School was formed in 1993 by a merger of the Department of Physics and the Department of Astronomy, both at the University ...

, 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 Immunoglobulin M (IgM) is one of several isotypes of antibody (also known as immunoglobulin) that are produced by vertebrates. IgM is the largest antibody, and it is the first antibody to appear in the response to initial exposure to an antig ...

– (''celestial object'') intergalactic medium * IGR – (''catalog'') Integral Gamma-Ray source, ''a catalog based on observations by the

telescope'' *

IGY Immunoglobulin Y (abbreviated as IgY) is a type of immunoglobulin which is the major antibody in bird, reptile, and lungfish blood. It is also found in high concentrations in chicken egg yolk. As with the other immunoglobulins, IgY is a class of ...

– (''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 Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–79 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the on ...

in 1986'' * ILOM – (''spacecraft'') In-situ Lunar Orientation Measurement, ''a mission to measure variations in the orientation of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

from the Moon's surface'' * IMAGE – 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 Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Impac ...

– (''meeting'') International Monitoring Programs for Asteroid and Comet Threat *

IMPS IMPS or Imps may refer to: * ''Imps*'', a comedy film released in 2009 * OMA Instant Messaging and Presence Service * Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite, an April Fools' Day RFC * The Oxford Imps, an improvisational comedy troupe * Insensitive muni ...

– (''observing program'') IRAS Minor Planet Survey * INAG – (''organization'') Institut National d'Astronomie et de Geophysique *

ING Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 1992 ...

– (''organization'') Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes * INS – (''celestial object'') Isolated

Neutron Star A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. w ...

* INT – (''telescope'') Isaac Newton Telescope *

– (''telescope'') INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, ''a

gamma-ray A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically sh ...

space telescope'' * IoA – (''organization'') Institute of Astronomy, ''an astronomy research department at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

'' *

IOTA Iota (; uppercase: Ι, lowercase: ι; ) is the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Yodh. Letters that arose from this letter include the Latin I and J, the Cyrillic І (І, і), Yi (Ї, ї), and ...

– (''telescope'') Infrared Optical Telescope Array *

– (''organization'') International Occultation Timing Association, ''an organization for monitoring

occultation An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks ...

s'' * IPAC – (''organization'') Infrared Processing & Analysis Center * IPMO – (''celestial object'') Isolated Planetary Mass Objects, ''another name for isolated

planemo A planetary-mass object (PMO), planemo, or planetary body is by geophysical definition of celestial objects any celestial object massive enough to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium (to be rounded under its own gravity), but not enough to sustain ...

s or sub-brown dwarfs'' * IQSY – (''observing program'') International Quiet Sun Year, ''the name given to a series of coordinated

-related observational programs performed in 1964 and 1965'' * IR – (''astrophysics terminology'') InfraRed *

IRAC IRAC ( ) is an acronym that generally stands for: Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion. It functions as a methodology for legal analysis. The IRAC format is mostly used in hypothetical questions in law school and Bar examination, bar exams. ...

– (''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 The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Dutch: ''Infrarood Astronomische Satelliet'') (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths. Launched on 25 January 1983, its mission lasted ten mo ...

– (''telescope''/''catalog'') InfraRed Astronomical Satellite, ''an

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 The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

– (''instrumentation'') InfraRed Spectrograph, ''an

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 A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

'' *ISCO – (''astrophysical terminology'') Innermost Stable Circular Orbit * ISEE – (''spacecraft'') International Sun-Earth Explorer, ''a series of spacecraft designed to study the effects of the

on the Earth's space environment and magnetosphere'' * ISGRI – (''instrumentation'') – INTEGRAL Soft Gamma-Ray Imager, ''an instrument on the

satellite'' * ISM – (''celestial object'') InterStellar Medium * ISN – (''organization'') International Supernovae Network *

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

– (''telescope'') Infrared Space Observatory *

ISON Ison, ISON or variant, may refer to: Geography * Isön, a small island in lake Storsjön, Jämtland, Sweden People First name / given name *Ison (rapper), stage name of Ison Glasgow, a Swedish rapper of American origin Last name / family name * Dav ...

– International Scientific Optical Network * ISPM – (''spacecraft'') International Solar Polar Mission, ''another name for the

Ulysses spacecraft ''Ulysses'' ( , ) was a robotic space probe whose primary mission was to orbit the Sun and study it at all latitudes. It was launched in 1990 and made three "fast latitude scans" of the Sun in 1994/1995, 2000/2001, and 2007/2008. In addition ...

'' * ISRO – (''organization'') Indian Space Research Organisation * ISSA – (''data'') Infrared Sky Survey Atlas, ''an atlas compiled from

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 The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) is an autonomous institution set up by the University Grants Commission of India to promote nucleation and growth of active groups in astronomy and astrophysics in Indian unive ...

– (''organization'') Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics - Pune, India * IUE – (''telescope'') International Ultraviolet Explorer, ''an

space telescope'' * IUEDAC – (''organization'') IUE satellite Data Analysis Center * IWCA – (''meeting'') International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy

J

* Janskys – (''publication'')

Green Bank Observatory The Green Bank Observatory (previously National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank) is an astronomical observatory located in the National Radio Quiet Zone in Green Bank, West Virginia, U.S. It is the operator of the Robert C. Byrd Green Ba ...

* JAC – (''publication'') Japan Astronomical Circular * JAC – (''organization'') Joint Astronomy Centre, ''the organization that operates the

United Kingdom Infrared Telescope The United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT) is a 3.8 metre (150 inch) infrared reflecting telescope, the second largest dedicated infrared (1 to 30 micrometres) telescope in the world. It is located on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i as part of Mauna ...

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 JILA, formerly known as the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, is a physical science research institute in the United States. JILA is located on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. JILA was founded in 1962 as a joint institute ...

– (''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

'' * JSGA – (''telescope''/''organization'') Japan SpaceGuard Association, ''a Japanese telescope used to track near-Earth asteroids and

'' * JWST – (''telescope'') James Webb Space Telescope, ''an infrared space telescope''

K

KAIT KAIT (channel 8) is a television station in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States, affiliated with ABC, NBC, and The CW Plus. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios on New Haven Church Road (County Road 766) north of Jonesboro, and i ...

– (''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 Input Catalog The Kepler Input Catalog (or KIC) is a publicly searchable database of roughly 13.2 million targets used for the Kepler Spectral Classification Program (SCP) and ''Kepler''. Overview The Kepler SCP targets were observed by the 2MASS project ...

, ''a catalog of stars with potential extrasolar planets to be observed by the

Kepler Mission The Kepler space telescope is a disused space telescope launched by NASA in 2009 to discover Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. Named after astronomer Johannes Kepler, the spacecraft was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbi ...

'' * KPNO – (''organization'') Kitt Peak National Observatory * KS – (''astrophysics terminology'') Kennicutt-Schmidt relation

L

* L – (''astrophysics terminology'') Lagrange, '' Lagrange points'' * L – (''catalog'') Luyten, ''a catalog of proper motion measurements of stars'' * LAD-C – (''instrumentation'') Large Area Debris Collector, ''a canceled program that was to collect and catalog low orbital dust on the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

'' * LAEFF – (''organization'') Laboratorio de Astrofisica Espacial y Fisica Fundamental, ''a Spanish astronomy research organization'' * LAL – (''catalog'') LALande, ''a historical catalog of stars'' * LAMOST – (''telescope'') Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope * LANL – (''organization'') Los Alamos National Laboratory * LASCO – (''instrumentation'') Large Angle and Spectrometric COronagraph, ''an instrument on the

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is a European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft built by a European industrial consortium led by Matra Marconi Space (now Airbus Defence and Space) that was launched on a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS lau ...

'' *

Laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fi ...

– (''instrumentation'') light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation * LAT – (instrumentation) Large Area Telescope, on the

Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST, also FGRST), formerly called the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), is a space observatory being used to perform gamma-ray astronomy observations from low Earth orbit. Its main instrument is ...

* LBN – (''catalog'') Lynds Bright Nebula, ''a catalog of bright nebulae'' * LBG - (''celestial object'') Lyman Break Galaxy, ''a galaxy identified using the Lyman-break selection technique'' *

LBNL Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States national laboratory that is owned by, and conducts scientific research on behalf of, the United States Department of Energy. Located in ...

– (''organization'') Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory * LBT – (''telescope'') Large Binocular Telescope * LBV – (''celestial object'') luminous blue variable, ''a type of very bright

'' * LCDM – (''astrophysics terminology'') Lambda cold dark matter, ''any model for structure formation in the universe that includes

dark energy In physical cosmology and astronomy, dark energy is an unknown form of energy that affects the universe on the largest scales. The first observational evidence for its existence came from measurements of supernovas, which showed that the univ ...

'' ** ''also'' ΛCDM * LCO — (''observatory'') Las Campanas Observatory, Atacama Region in Chile *

LCOGT Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) is a network of astronomical observatories run by a non-profit private operating foundation directed by the technologist Wayne Rosing. Its offices are in Goleta, California. The telescopes are located at both northe ...

– network of autonomous robotic telescopes (2m, 1m and 40 cm) at 7 sites in both hemispheres * LCROSS – (''spacecraft'') Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite * LCRS – (''observing program'') Las Campanas Redshift Survey * LDN – (''catalog'') Lynds Dark Nebula, ''a catalog of

dark nebula A dark nebula or absorption nebula is a type of interstellar cloud, particularly molecular clouds, that is so dense that it obscures the visible wavelengths of light from objects behind it, such as background stars and emission or reflection nebu ...

e'' * LDN – (''celestial object'') large dark nebula, a large, wispy nebula made of neutral brown hydrogen gas. * LDS – (''catalog'') Luyten Double Star * LDSS3 — (''spectrograph'') Low Dispersion Survey Spectrograph, from Magellan 2 Clay Telescope at LCO. * LEO – (''astrophysics terminology'') low Earth orbit * LEST – (''telescope'') large Earth-based solar telescope * LETGS – (''instrumentation'') Low Energy Transmission Gratings Spectrometer, ''an instrument on the

'' ** ''also'' LETG * LF – (''astrophysics terminology'') luminosity function, ''the spatial density of objects such as star clusters and galaxies as a function of their luminosity'' * LFT – (''catalog'') Luyten Five-Tenths, ''a catalog of stars with proper motions exceeding 0.5"'' * LGA – (''instrumentation'') low-gain antenna * LGM – (''celestial object'') Little Green Men, ''a humorous name applied to pulsars soon after their discovery'' * LHEA – (''organization'') Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics * LHS – (''catalog'') Luyten Half-Second, ''a catalog of stars with proper motions exceeding 0.5"'' * LIC – (''celestial object'') Local Interstellar Cloud, ''the cloud in the interstellar medium through which the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

is currently moving'' *

LIGO The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Two large ...

– (''telescope'') Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, ''an instrument for detecting gravitational waves'' *

LINEAR Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...

– (''observing program'') Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research *

LINER A low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) is a type of galactic nucleus that is defined by its spectral line emission. The spectra typically include line emission from weakly ionized or neutral atoms, such as O, O+, N+, and S+. ...

– (''celestial object'') low-ionization nuclear emission region, ''a

galactic nucleus An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not pr ...

that is characterized by

spectral line A spectral line is a dark or bright line in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum, resulting from emission or absorption of light in a narrow frequency range, compared with the nearby frequencies. Spectral lines are often used to iden ...

emission from weakly

ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...

ized gas'' * LIRG – (''celestial object'') luminous infrared galaxy, ''a galaxy that is between 10¹¹ and 10¹² solar luminosities in the

'' *

LISA Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...

– (''telescope'') Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, ''a series of spacecraft that can be used to detect gravitational waves'' * LLAGN – (''celestial object'') low-luminosity active galactic nucleus, ''an

active galactic nucleus An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not prod ...

with a low luminosity'' *

LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...

– (''organization'') Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory * LMC – (''celestial object'') Large Magellanic Cloud, ''an

irregular galaxy An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a distinct regular shape, unlike a spiral or an elliptical galaxy. Irregular galaxies do not fall into any of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, and they are often chaotic in appearance, ...

near the

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. ...

'' * LMS – (''celestial object'') Lower main sequence star, ''the less massive hydrogen-burning

main-sequence star In astronomy, the main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appears on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung–Russell diagrams after their co-developers, Ejnar Hert ...

s'' * LMXB – (''celestial object'') low-mass x-ray binary, ''an

-luminous

in which one of the stars is a

or black hole that is stripping material away from the other star in the system'' * LN2 – (''instrumentation'') liquid nitrogen *

LOAN In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

– Longitude of ascending node * LOFAR – (''telescope'') LOw Frequency ARray, ''for radio astronomy'' *

LONEOS Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search (LONEOS) was a project designed to discover asteroids and comets that orbit near the Earth. The project, funded by NASA, was directed by astronomer Ted Bowell of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizo ...

– (''observing program'') Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search *

LOSS Loss may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Loss'' (Bass Communion album) (2006) * ''Loss'' (Mull Historical Society album) (2001) *"Loss", a song by God Is an Astronaut from their self-titled album (2008) * Losses "(Lil Tjay son ...

– (''observing program'') Lick Observatory Supernova Search * LOTIS – (''telescope'') Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System, ''a telescope designed to find the optical counterparts of

s'' * LOTOSS – (''observing program'') Lick Observatory and Tenagra Observatory Supernova Searches * LP – (''catalog'') Luyten Palomar, ''a catalog of proper motion measurements of stars '' * LPI – (''organization'') Lunar and Planetary Institute * LPL – (''organization'') Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, ''the planetary science department of the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

'' * LPV – (''celestial object'') Long Period Variable, ''a type of

that changes in brightness slowly over time'' * LRG – (''celestial object'') luminous red galaxy, ''a dataset of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey that were selected on the basis of their red colors'' * LRO – (''spacecraft'') Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter * LSR – (''astrophysics terminology'') local standard of rest, ''the frame of reference with a

velocity Velocity is the directional speed of an object in motion as an indication of its rate of change in position as observed from a particular frame of reference and as measured by a particular standard of time (e.g. northbound). Velocity i ...

equal to the average velocity of all the stars in the solar neighborhood, including the

'' * LSST – (''telescope'') Legacy Survey of Space and Time * LST – (''astrophysics terminology'') local sidereal time, ''the right ascension that is currently at the

zenith The zenith (, ) is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction ( plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location ( nadir). The zenith is the "high ...

'' * LT – (''telescope'') Liverpool Telescope * LTE – (''astrophysics terminology'') Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium, ''a state where variations in temperature, pressure, etc. do not vary on small scales'' *

LTP LTP may refer to: Biology and medicine * Lateral tibial plateau, part of a leg bone * Lipid transfer proteins, proteins found in plant tissues * Long-term potentiation (neurophysiology), a long-lasting enhancement in signal transmission between ...

– (''astrophysics terminology'') Lunar Transient Phenomenon, ''an observed event (such as a flash of light) on the surface of the

'' * LTT – (''catalog'') Luyten Two-Tenths, ''a catalog of proper motion measurements for stars'' * LWS - (''instrumentation'') Long Wavelength Spectrometer, ''a spectrometer on the

M

MARVEL Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics * ...

– (''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

s named after

Mira Mira (), designation Omicron Ceti (ο Ceti, abbreviated Omicron Cet, ο Cet), is a red-giant star estimated to be 200–400 light-years from the Sun in the constellation Cetus. ο Ceti is a binary stellar system, consisting of a vari ...

, the archetype for the class'' * MAC – (''observing program'') Multi-instrument Aircraft Campaign, ''a program to study the cometary dust from the

Leonids The Leonids ( ) are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel–Tuttle, which are also known for their spectacular meteor storms that occur about every 33 years. The Leonids get their name from the location of their radiant ...

meteor showers'' *

MACHO Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as hav ...

– (''celestial object''/''observing program''/''catalog'') MAssive Compact Halo Object, ''an object in the

halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

thought to comprise part of the galaxy's

; also a survey to detect these sources through

gravitational lensing A gravitational lens is a distribution of matter (such as a cluster of galaxies) between a distant light source and an observer that is capable of bending the light from the source as the light travels toward the observer. This effect is known ...

and the catalog of sources detected by the survey'' * MACS – (''catalogue'') Magellanic Catalogue of Stars *

MAGIC Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

– (''telescope'') Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov telescope * MALT – Millimetre Astronomy Legacy Team – includin

and MALT45 * Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, MAP – (''telescope'') Microwave-background Anisotropy Probe, ''an older name for the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe'' *

MASER A maser (, an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) is a device that produces coherent electromagnetic waves through amplification by stimulated emission. The first maser was built by Charles H. Townes, Ja ...

– (''astrophysics terminology'') microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, ''

emission that is similar to the optical emission from a

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fi ...

'' *

MAVEN MAVEN is an American spacecraft orbiting Mars to study the loss of its atmospheric gases to space, providing insight into the history of the planet's climate and water. The spacecraft name is an acronym for "Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolu ...

– Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN *

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

– (''celestial object'') main belt asteroid * MBH – (''celestial object'') massive black hole *

MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...

– (''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

'' *

MECO Domenico Monardo (born November 29, 1939), known as Meco, is an American record producer and musician, as well as the name of his band or production team. Meco is best known for his 1977 space disco version of the ''Star Wars'' theme from his ...

– (''celestial object'') magnetospheric eternally collapsing object, ''a type of object proposed as an alternative to

supermassive black hole A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical ob ...

s as the central compact source within

active galactic nuclei An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not prod ...

'' * 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 People * Mićo Janić (born 1979), Croatian sprint canoer * Mićo Ljubibratić (1839–1889), Serbian revolutionary * Mico Palanca (1978–2019), Filipino actor * Mićo Smiljanić (born 1974), Serbian/Montenegrin footballer * Mićo Stanišić (born ...

– (''software'') Multi-year Interactive Computer Almanac, ''astronomy almanac software created by the

United States Naval Observatory United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depo ...

'' * MIDI – MID-Infrared instrument. A mid-infrared instrument of the

* MIPS – (''instrumentation'') Multi-band Imaging Photometer, ''an instrument on the Spitzer Space Telescope'' *

MIRI ) , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivision_type2 = Division , subdivision_name2 ...

– (''instrumentation'') Mid-Infrared Instrument, ''an instrument on'' the ''James Webb Telescope'' * MJD – (''astrophysics terminology'') Modified Julian Date, ''the

Julian date The Julian day is the continuous count of days since the beginning of the Julian period, and is used primarily by astronomers, and in software for easily calculating elapsed days between two events (e.g. food production date and sell by 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 ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'' (MNRAS) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in astronomy and astrophysics. It has been in continuous existence since 1827 and publishes letters and papers reporting origina ...

– (''publication'') Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society * MO – (''spacecraft'') Mars Observer *

MOA Moa are extinct giant flightless birds native to New Zealand. The term has also come to be used for chicken in many Polynesian cultures and is found in the names of many chicken recipes, such as Kale moa and Moa Samoa. Moa or MOA may also refe ...

– (''observing program'') Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics, ''a survey searching for

gravitational lens A gravitational lens is a distribution of matter (such as a cluster of galaxies) between a distant light source and an observer that is capable of bending the light from the source as the light travels toward the observer. This effect is known ...

es'' * MOC – (''instrumentation'') Mars Observer Camera, ''an instrument on the

'' *

MOID Minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) is a measure used in astronomy to assess potential close approaches and collision risks between astronomical objects. It is defined as the distance between the closest points of the osculating orbits of ...

– (''astrophysics terminology'') minimum orbit intersection distance, ''the minimum distance between two objects' orbital paths'' * MOLA – (''instrumentation'') Mars Observer Laser Altimeter, ''an instrument on the

used to study

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

topology In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ...

'' * 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'' *

MOST Most or Möst or ''variation'', may refer to: Places * Most, Kardzhali Province, a village in Bulgaria * Most (city), a city in the Czech Republic ** Most District, a district surrounding the city ** Most Basin, a lowland named after the city ** A ...

– (''telescope'') Microvariability and Oscillations of STars, ''a space telescope designed to detect oscillations in the atmospheres of stars and

extrasolar planets An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

s in orbit around other stars'' *

– (''telescope'') Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope, ''an Australian radio telescope'' * MOTIF – (''telescope'') Maui Optical Tracking and Identification Facility * MOXE – (''instrumentation'') Monitoring X-ray Experiment, ''an

all-sky monitor designed for the

Spectrum-X-Gamma Spektr-RG (Russian: Спектр-РГ, ''Spectrum'' + '' Röntgen'' + ''Gamma''; also called Spectrum-X-Gamma, SRG, SXG) is a Russian–German high-energy astrophysics space observatory which was launched on 13 July 2019. It follows on from the ...

satellite'' * Minor Planet Circulars, MPC – (''publication'') Minor Planet Circulars (''also called'' Minor Planets and Comets) * Minor Planet Electronic Circular, MPEC – (''publication'') Minor Planet Electronic Circular * Mars Pathfinder, MPF – (''spacecraft'') Mars PathFinder * Mars Polar Lander, MPL – (''spacecraft'') Mars Polar Lander * MPO – (''space craft'') Mercury Planetary Orbiter, ''ESA space craft to Mercury'' * MPP – (''instrumentation'') Multi-Pinned-Phase, ''Charge coupled device, CCD technology that reduces dark current (physics), dark current noise'' * Minor Planet Circulars Supplement, MPCS – (''publication'') Minor Planet Circulars Supplement * Microlensing Planet Search, MPS – (''observing project'') Microlensing Planet Search, ''a program designed that detect

s using a gravitational lens, gravitational lensing technique'' * Magnetorotational instability, MRI – (''astrophysics term'') magnetorotational instability, a local instability in the accretion disks which only requires weak magnetic field and dΩ²/dR<0 *Markarian galaxies, MRK – Markarian galaxies * Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO – (''spacecraft'') Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter *Mars Science Laboratory, MSL – Mars Science Laboratory * pulsar, MSP – (''celestial object'') millisecond pulsar * Maui Space Surveillance Site, MSSS – (''organization'') Maui Space Surveillance Site * Midcourse Space Experiment, MSX – (''telescope'') Midcourse Space EXperiment, ''an

space telescope'' * Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, MSSSO – (''organization'') Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories * MUnich Near-Infrared Cluster Survey, MUNICS – (''observing program'') MUnich Near-Infrared Cluster Survey * Mu Space Engineering Spacecraft, MUSES – (''spacecraft'') MU Space Engineering Spacecraft, ''a Japanese science-related spacecraft launched in a Mu (rocket), Mu rocket'' * MUSTANG (camera), 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 * Milky Way, MW – (''celestial object'') Milky Way * Magnetic white dwarf, MWD – (''celestial object'') magnetic white dwarf * High-mass X-ray binary, MXRB – (''celestial object'') massive x-ray binary, ''an x-ray-luminous binary system consisting of a

and a very massive star'' * Massive young stellar object, MYSO – (''celestial object'') massive young stellar object

N

* Nova, N – (''celestial object'') nova * National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, NACA – (''organization'') National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, ''the older name for

'' * North American Meteor Network, NAMN – (''organization'') North American Meteor Network * National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, NAOJ – (''organization'') National Astronomical Observatory of Japan * Norsk Astronomisk Selskap, NAS – (''organization'') Norsk Astronomisk Selskap, ''the Norwegian name for the Norsk Astronomisk Selskap, Norwegian Astronomical Society'' *

– (''organization'') National Aeronautics and Space Administration * National Space Development Agency, NASDA – (''organization'') NAtional Space Development Agency * National Institute of Standards and Technology, 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 Prospector, NEAP – (''spacecraft'') Near Earth Asteroid Prospector, ''a space probe used to study a near-Earth asteroid'' * Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, NEAR – (''spacecraft'') Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, ''a space probe used to study a near-Earth asteroid'' * Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking, NEAT – (''observing program'') Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking * NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database, NED – (''software'') NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database * Near-Earth asteroid, NEO – (''celestial object'') Near-Earth object ** ''also'' Near-Earth asteroid, NEA – (''celestial object'') Near-Earth asteroid * NEMP – (''celestial object'') nitrogen-enhanced metal-poor star, ''a type of carbon star with high amounts of nitrogen'' * NEODyS – (''organization'') Near Earth Objects Dynamic Site, ''an Italian web-based service that provides information on near-Earth asteroids'' * Near Earth Object Information Center, NEOIC – (''organization'') Near Earth Object Information Center, ''a United Kingdom organization that provides information on near-Earth asteroids'' *Near-Earth Object WISE, NEOWISE – Near-Earth Object WISE * Near Earth Space Surveillance, NESS – (''telescope'') Near Earth Space Surveillance, ''a telescope for observing near-Earth asteroids'' * Near Earth Space Surveillance Initiative, NESSI – (''organization'') Near Earth Space Surveillance Initiative, ''a collaboration planning to use a ground-based telescope to observe near-Earth asteroids'' * New General Catalogue, NGC – (''catalog'') New General Catalog *National Geographic Society – Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, NGS-POSS – National Geographic Society – Palomar Observatory Sky Survey * James Webb Space Telescope, NGST – (''telescope'') Next Generation Space Telescope, ''an older name for the James Webb Space Telescope'' * next-generation VLA, ngVLA – (''telescope'') Next-Generation Very Large Array * NHICAT – (''catalog'') Northern HIPASS CATalog, ''the northern extension of the

catalogue'' * Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer, NICMOS – (''instrumentation'') Near Infrared Camera / Multi Object Spectrometer, ''an

instrument on the

'' * Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, NIMS – (''instrumentation'') Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, ''an instrument on the Galileo spacecraft'' * Infrared, NIR – (''astrophysics terminology'') near-infrared * NIRCam – (''Instrument''), ''Near-Infrared Camera'', an instrument on ''James Webb Telescope'' * NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph), NIRSpec – (''instrument'') ''Near-Infrared'' Spectrograph, an instrument on ''James Webb Telerscope'' * National Institute of Standards and Technology, 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 * Non-equilibrium thermodynamics, NLTE – (''astrophysics terminology'') non-local thermodynamic equilibrium, ''situations where the temperature, pressure, etc. of a system are not in equilibrium'' * New Luyten Two-Tenths, NLTT – (''catalog'') New Luyten Two-Tenths, ''a catalog of stars with high proper motions'' * NNVS – Nizhny Novgorod, Veränderliche Sterne; a

publication of the Nizhny Novgorod Society of Physics and Astronomy Amateurs * National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA – (''organization'') National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration * National Optical Astronomy Observatories, NOAO – (''organization'') National Optical Astronomy Observatories * NASA Orbital Debris Observatory, NODO – (''telescope'') NASA Orbital Debris Observatory, ''a now-defunct telescope used to observe

and other objects'' * Nordic Telescope, NOT – (''telescope'') NOrdic Telescope * North Polar Sequence, NPS – (''celestial object'') North Polar Sequence, ''a series of stars near the north celestial pole once used as standards for measuring apparent magnitude, magnitudes'' *Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories, NRAL – Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratory, the former name for Jodrell * National Radio Astronomy Observatory, NRAO – (''organization'') National Radio Astronomy Observatory * Naval Research Laboratory, NRL – (''organization'') Naval Research Laboratory * Neutron star, NS – (''celestial object'') neutron star * National Science Foundation, NSF – (''organization'') National Science Foundation * National Solar Observatory, NSO – (''organization'') National Solar Observatory * National Space Science Data Center, NSSDC – (''organization'') National Space Science Data Center * NSV – (''catalog'') New Suspected Variable, ''a catalog of

s'' * NT – (''astrophysics terminology'') Non-Thermal, ''radiation that is not related to the emission source's temperature (such as synchrotron radiation)'' * New Technology Telescope, 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

* Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, OAO – (''observatory'') Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, ''in Japan'' * Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, OAO – (''telescope'') Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, ''a series of satellites with astronomical instruments that operated in the 1970s'' * Open cluster, OC – (''celestial object'') open cluster, ''a cluster of stars'' * Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, OCA – (''organization'') Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur * Oort cloud object, OCO – (''celestial object'') Oort Cloud Object, ''an object (usually a comet) in the Oort cloud'' * Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, OGLE – (''observing program''/''catalog'') Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, ''an observing program to survey the sky for gravitational lens, 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

'' ** TR – (''catalog'') TRansit, ''used to designate a potential observation of a gravitational lens, microlensing event caused by a transiting star'' * Outer Planets Assessment Group, OPAG – (''organization'') Outer Planets Assessment Group, ''a group established by NASA that provides advice on

exploration'' * Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer, ORFEUS – (''telescope'') Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer, ''an

space telescope that could be released and later retrieved by the

'' *OSIRIS-REx – Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer * Ohio Sky Survey, OSS – (''observing program'') Ohio Sky Survey * Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment, OSSE – (''instrumentation'') Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment, ''an instrument on the

'' * Optical Telescope Assembly, OTA – (''instrumentation'') Optical Telescope Assembly, ''the optics of the

'' * OVV quasar, OVV – (''celestial object'') an optically violent variable quasar. * Orbiting Wide-angle Light-collectors, OWL – (''telescope'') orbiting wide-angle light-collectors, ''two satellites that will work together to observe cosmic rays hitting the Earth's atmosphere'' * Overwhelmingly Large Telescope, OWL – (''telescope'') OverWhelmingly Large Telescope, ''a proposed telescope with a primary mirror with a width of 100 m''

P

* P60 – (''telescope'') Palomar Observatory, Palomar 60-inch telescope * PA – (''astrophysics terminology'') Position Angle * PACS - (''instrumentation'') Photodetecting Array Camera and Spectrometer, ''a Herschel imaging camera and low resolution

'' * Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, PAH – (''astrophysics terminology'') polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon * Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics, PAMELA – (''telescope'') Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics, ''a space telescope used to study

s'' * Pan-STARRS – (''telescope'') Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System * Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, PASJ – (''publication'') Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan * Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, PASP – (''publication'') Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific * PCA – (''instrumentation'') Proportional Counter Array, ''an

detector on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer'' * Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey, PCAS – (''observing program'') Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey * Plateau de Bure Interferometer, PDBI – (''telescope'') Plateau de Bure Interferometer, ''a radio telescope'' * Photodissociation region, PDR – a photodissociation region or photon-dominated region (both terms are used synonymously); ''a region in the neutral interstellar medium, ISM in which far-ultraviolet photons dominate the heating and chemistry'' * Planetary Data System, PDS – is a distributed data system that NASA uses to archive data collected by Solar System missions. * PhotoElectric Photometry, PEP – (''instrumentation'') PhotoElectric Photometry, ''an observing technique using photometers'' * Plasma Experiment for Planetary Exploration, PEPE – (''instrumentation'') Plasma Experiment for Planetary Exploration, ''an instrument on Deep Space 1'' *Principal Galaxies Catalogue, PGC – Principal Galaxies Catalogue * Potentially hazardous asteroid, PHA – (''celestial object'') Potentially Hazardous Asteroid * PI – (''person'') Principal Investigator, ''the person who leads a scientific project'' * PK – (''catalog'') Perek-Kohoutek, ''a catalog of

e'' * PKS – (''Telescope'') Refers to Parkes Observatory, a radio telescope in Australia * Planemo – (''celestial object'') planetary mass object * Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork, PLANET – (''observing program'') Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork, ''a program to search for gravitational lens, microlensing events'' * PLS – (''observing program'') Palomar-Leiden Survey, ''a program to search for asteroids'' * PMPS – (''observing program'') Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey * Pre–main sequence star, PMS – (''celestial object'') pre-main sequence, ''young stars that are still in the process of formation'' ** ''also'' pre-MS * Photomultiplier tube, PMT – (''instrumentation'') photomultiplier tube * P-L – a set of asteroid discoveries in the 1960s * Planetary nebula, PN – (''celestial object'') planetary nebula ** ''also'' PNe (plural form of ''planetary nebula'') * PNG – (''catalog'') Galactic Planetary Nebula * Planetary nebula luminosity function, PNLF – (''astrophysics terminology'') Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function, ''the density of

as a function of their luminosity'' * PNN – (''celestial object'') planetary nebula nucleus, ''the central star in a

'' * PNNV – (''celestial object'') planetary nebula nucleus variable, ''a

in the center of a

'' * Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, POSS – (''observing program'') Palomar Observatory Sky Survey
POSSUM
– Polarisation Sky Survey of the Universe's Magnetism * Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, 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'' * Protoplanetary nebula, PPN – (''celestial object'') proto-planetary nebula, ''an object that has partially evolved from a red giant to a

'' * PRE – (''astrophysics terminology'') photospheric radius expansion * PRIMUS �
Prism Multi-Object Survey
{Dead link, date=June 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes , a large [spectroscopsurvey] * Protoplanetary disk, Proplyd – (''celestial object'') protoplanetary disk * PSC – (''catalog'') Point Source Catalog, ''a catalog of point-like

sources detected with the Infrared Astronomy Satellite'' * Point spread function, 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)'' * Planetary Science Institute, PSI – (''organization'') Planetary Science Institute * Pulsar, PSR – (''celestial object'') Pulsar * Pioneer Venus Orbiter, PVO – (''spacecraft'') Pioneer Venus Orbiter * PV Telescopii variable, PVTEL – (''celestial object'') PV TELescopii, ''a class of pulsating

s named after PV Telescopii, the archetype for the class'' * Pre-white dwarf, PWD – (''celestial object'') pre-white dwarf, ''a star that no longer creates energy through fusion that will eventually evolve into a

'' * Pulsar wind nebula, PWN – (''celestial object'') pulsar wind nebula * Photographic zenith tube, PZT – (''telescope'') photographic zenith tube, ''a general name for any telescope designed to observe objects passing at the

Q

* Quasi-biennial oscillation, QBO – (''astrophysics terminology'') quasi-biennial oscillation, ''a type of season variation in the Earth's atmosphere'' * Quark-Gluon Plasma, QGP - Quark-Gluon Plasma * Quantum efficiency, QE – (''instrumentation'') quantum efficiency, ''the sensitivity of Charge coupled device, CCDs'' * Quasi-periodic oscillations, QPO – (''astrophysics terminology'') quasi-periodic oscillation * QSO – (''celestial object'') quasi-stellar object * Quasar – (''celestial object'') quasi-stellar radio source

R

* Rapid Telescopes for Optical Response, RAPTOR – Rapid Telescopes for Optical Response project * Right Ascension, RA – (''astrophysics terminology'') Right ascension * Revised Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, RAFGL – See AFGL. * Robust Associations of Massive Baryonic Objects (RAMBOs), RAMBO – (''celestial object'') An association of brown dwarfs or

s form a dark cluster. * Royal Astronomical Society, RAS – (''organization'') Royal Astronomical Society * Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, RASC – (''organization'') Royal Astronomical Society of Canada * RASS – (''observing program''/''catalog'') ROSAT All-Sky Survey, ''used as both a name for a survey with

and the catalogs produced from the survey'' * Red clump, RC – (''celestial object'') Red Clump, ''a type of metallicity, metal-rich red giant star'' ** ''also'' RCG – red clump giant * Reference Catalogue of Galaxies, RC – (''catalog'') Reference Catalogue, ''a catalog of nearby galaxies'' ** RC2 – Reference Catalogue, 2nd edition ** RC3 – Reference Catalogue, 3rd edition * Ritchey Chretien, RC – (''organization''/''telescope'') Ritchey Chretien, ''a manufacturer of amateur and professional telescope equipment; also the telescopes themselves'' * R Coronae Borealis variable, RCB – (''celestial object'') R Coronae Borealis, ''a class of eruptive

s named after R Coronae Borealis, the archetype for the class'' * Radiation-driven implosion, 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

into a red giant'' ** Can also refer to the ROSAT-Green Bank Catalog * Royal Greenwich Observatory, 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)'' * Radio loud quasar, RLQ – (''celestial object'') radio loud quasar, ''a quasar that produces strong radio emission'' * RNGC – (''catalog'') Revised New General Catalog * Radio/optical reference frame, RORF – (''astrophysics terminology'') radio/optical reference frame, ''an inertial reference frame based on extragalactic radio sources'' *

– (''telescope'') ROentgen SATellite, ''an

space telescope'' * Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment, ROTSE – (''observing program''/''telescope'') Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment, ''an observing program for detecting the optical counterparts of

; also the telescopes used in this program'' * Radio-quiet quasar, RQQ – (''celestial object'') radio-quiet quasar ''a quasar that produces weak radio emission'' * Rotating radio transient, RRAT – (''celestial object'') rotating radio transient, ''a population of rotating

s that produce periodic bursts of emission that are separated by intervals of minutes or hours'' * RR Lyrae variable, RRL – (''celestial object'') RR Lyrae, ''a class of pulsating

s named after RR Lyrae, the archetype of the class'' ** ''also'' RR * Shapley-Ames Catalog#Revised Shapley-Ames, RSA – (''catalog'') Revised Shapley-Ames, ''a catalog of nearby galaxies'' * Russian Space Agency, 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'' * Red supergiant, RSG – (''celestial object'') red super giant * Radio supernova, RSN – (''celestial object'') radio supernova * Radioisotope thermoelectric generator, RTG – (''instrumentation'') Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, ''a type of power generator used in spacecraft that travel far from the

'' * Radial velocity, RV – (''astrophysics terminology'') radial velocity, ''the velocity along the line of sight'' * RX – (''catalog'') ROSAT X-ray, ''a catalog of sources detected by

'' * Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, RXTE – (''telescope'') Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer, ''a space telescope designed to observe variability in

emission''

S

* Stripe 82, S82 – Stripe 82 * Sky & Telescope, S&T – (''publication'') Sky & Telescope * South African Astronomical Observatory, SAAO – (''organization'') South African Astronomical Observatory * Southern African Large Telescope, SALT – (''telescope'') Southern African Large Telescope * Société astronomique de France, 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'' * Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, SAO – (''organization''/''catalog'') Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, ''the name of astrophysics research organization associated with Harvard University; also a catalog of stars'' * Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers, SARA – (''organization'') Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers * SAS – (''software'') Science Analysis Software, ''a software package used for processing data from the XMM-Newton Observatory'' * Synthetic aperture telescope, SAT – (''telescope'') synthetic aperture telescope * Sociedad Astronómica de Valparaíso y Viña del Mar (SAVAL), SAVAL – (''organization'') Sociedad Astronómica de Valparaíso y Viña del Mar, Chile. Amateur Astronomy. Founded in 1956. * Binary star#Spectroscopic binaries, SB – (''celestial object'') spectroscopic binary ** SB1 – spectroscopic binary, single-lined spectra ** SB2 – spectroscopic binary, double-lined spectra * Surface brightness, SB – (''astrophysics terminology'') surface brightness * Santa Barbara Instrument Group, SBIG – (''organization''/''instrumentation'') Santa Barbara Instrument Group, ''the name of both a company that manufactures telescope equipment and the company's products'' * Committee for Small Body Nomenclature, SBNC – (''organization'') Small Bodies Names Committee, ''an older name for the Committee for Small Body Nomenclature'' * Supernova Cosmology Project, SCP – (''observing program'') Supernova Cosmology Project, ''a project to measure the expansion of the universe using supernovae at high redshifts'' * SCR – (''observing program'') SuperCOSMOS-RECONS, ''a survey that measured the proper motions of stars'' * Schmidt–Cassegrain Telescope, SCT – (''telescope'') Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope, ''a general name for a type of compact telescope that uses both lenses and mirrors'' * Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, SCUBA – (''instrumentation'') Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array, ''a submillimeter imager formerly at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope'' *Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array#SCUBA-2, SCUBA-2 – (''instrumentation'') Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array 2, ''a submillimeter imager that will replace Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, SCUBA'' * Subdwarf star, sd – (''celestial object'') subdwarf, ''stars fainter than

s with the same colors; often used as a prefix to a star's star classification, spectral type'' * Scattered disc, SDO – (''celestial object'') scattered disk object, ''

s with highly Orbital eccentricity, eccentric, highly inclined orbits'' ** ''also'' SKBO – Scattered Kuiper belt object * S Doradus variable, SDOR – (''celestial object'') S DORadus, ''a class of eruptive

s 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 * Southeast Asia Astronomy Network, SEAAN – (''organization'') Southeast Asia Astronomy Network, ''astronomy research and education among Southeast Asian countries'' * Spectral Energy Distribution, SED – (''astrophyics terminology'') Spectral Energy Distribution * Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, SEDS – (''organization'') Students for the Exploration and Development of Space * Science and Engineering Research Council, SERC – (''organization'') Science and Engineering Research Council * Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope, 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 * Spaceguard Foundation, SGF – (''organization'') – SpaceGuard Foundation, ''an organization that tracks near-Earth asteroids'' * Soft gamma repeater, SGR – (''celestial object'') – soft gamma repeater, ''a type of

with strong magnetic fields that produces very large bursts of energy'' * SGRB – (''celestial object'') – Short Gamma-ray burst#Short gamma-ray bursts, Gamma-Ray Burst. * SHOES-Supernovae, HO, for the Equation of State of Dark energy * Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance, SID – (''astrophysics terminology'') Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance, ''a disturbance in the Earth's ionosphere caused by the

'' * Sunspot Index Data Center, SIDC – (''organization'') Sunspot Index Data Center * Space Interferometry Mission, 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'' * Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey, 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

wavelengths'' * Spitzer Space Telescope, SIRTF – (''telescope'') Space InfraRed Telescope Facility ''or'' Shuttle InfraRed Telescope Facility, ''older names for the Spitzer Space Telescope'' * Superconductor-Isolator-Superconductor, SIS – (''Instrumentation'') Superconductor-Isolator-Superconductor * Square Kilometre Array, SKA – (''telescope'') Square Kilometre Array * SL – (''catalog'') Shoemaker–Levy, ''the comets discovered by Shoemaker and David H. Levy, Levy, particularly Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, Shoemaker–Levy 9'' * Spacelab, SL – (''spacecraft'') SpaceLab * SLED - (''astrophysics terminology'') Spectral Line Energy Distribution, ''a description of the relative strength of carbon monoxide, CO emission lines'' * Space Launch System, SLS – (''launch vehicle'') American Space Shuttle-derived super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle. * Submillimeter Array, SMA – (''telescope'') Submillimeter Array * SMART-1, SMART – (spacecraft) Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology * SMARTS – (''organization'') Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory * Supermassive black hole, SMBH – (''celestial object'') super massive black hole * Small Magellanic Cloud, SMC – (''celestial object'') Small Magellanic Cloud * Solar Mesosphere Explorer, SME – (''spacecraft'') Solar Mesosphere Explorer, ''a spacecraft used to study the Earth's ozone layer'' * Small Explorer, 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 * Solar Maximum Mission, 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 * Supernova, SN – (''celestial object'') supernova ** also SNe (''plural form of'' SN) * Supernova/Acceleration Probe, SNAP – (''telescope'') SuperNova Acceleration Probe, ''proposed space telescope'' * Supernova remnant, SNR – (''celestial object'') supernova remnant * Solar Neutrino Unit, SNU – (''astrophysics terminology'') solar neutrino units * Steward Observatory Asteroid Relational Database, SOARD – (''software'') Steward Observatory Asteroid Relational Database * Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA – (''telescope'') Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, ''an

telescope currently under construction that will fly inside a modified Boeing 747 aircraft'' * Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, SOHO – (''telescope'') SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory, ''a solar space telescope'' * SONEAR – Southern Observatory for Near Earth Asteroids Research *Solar Orbiter, SOLO – Solar Orbiter * Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy, SPARTAN – (''telescope'') Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for AstroNomy, ''an

space telescope that can be released and retrieved by the

'' * VLT-SPHERE, SPHERE – (''instrumentation'') Spectro-Polarimetric High-Contrast Exoplanet Research, VLT * SPIRE - (''instrumentation'') Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver, ''a Herschel imaging camera and low-resolution

'' * Space Infrared Imaging Telescope, SPIRIT – (''instrument'') SPace InfraRed Imaging Telescope, ''an

instrument on the Midcourse Space Experiment spacecraft'' * Solar power satellite, 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

s'' * SPS – (''astrophysical terminology'') stellar population synthesis * South Pole Telescope, SPT – (''telescope'') South Pole Telescope * SQIID – (''instrumentation'') Simultaneous Quad Infrared Imaging Device * Strange matter, SQM – (''celestial object'') strange quark matter * Special Relativity, SR – (''astrophysics terminology'') Special Relativity * Space Research Organization of the Netherlands, SRON – (''organization'') Space Research Organization of the Netherlands * Symbiotic star, 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'' * Solid-State Imager, SSI – (''instrumentation'') Solid-State Imager, ''an instrument on the Galileo spacecraft'' * Space Studies Institute, SSI – (''organization'') Space Studies Institute * Surface Science Package, 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 * Spectroscopic Survey Telescope, SST – (''telescope'') Spectroscopic Survey Telescope * Spitzer Space 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

imaging * Stellar Planet Survey, STEPS – (''observing program'') STEllar Planet Survey * STEREO – Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory * Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, STIS – (''instrumentation'') Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, ''an instrument on the

'' * Space Shuttle program, STS – (''vehicle'') Shuttle Transport System ''or'' Space Transportation System * Space Telescope Science Institute, STScI – (''organization'') Space Telescope Science Institute * Space Telescope Science Data Analysis System, STSDAS – (''software'') Space Telescope Science Data Analysis System * Supergravity, SUGRA – (''astrophysics terminology'') supergravity * SUbaru PRIME focus CAMera, SUPRIME – (''instrumentation'') SUbaru PRIME focus CAMera, ''an instrument on the Subaru Telescope'' * SUSI – (''telescope'') Sydney University Stellar Interferometer, '' an Astronomical interferometer, optical interferometer'' * Solar Wind ANisotropy, SWAN – (''instrumentation'') Solar Wind ANisotropy, ''an instrument on Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, SOHO'' * Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite, SWAS – (''telescope'') Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite, ''a submillimeter space telescope'' * SWEEPS – (''observing program'') – Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search, ''a survey of a subsection of the plane of the

performed with the

'' * Spitzer Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic survey, SWIRE – (''observing program'') Spitzer Space Telescope, Spitzer Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic survey * Southwest Research Institute, SwRI – (''organization'') Southwest Research Institute * SX Arietis variable, SXARI – (''celestial object'') SX ARIetis, ''a class of rotating

s named after SX Arietis, the archetype for the class'' * SX Phoenicis variable, SXPHE – (''celestial object'') SX PhoEnicis, ''a class of pulsating

s 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'' * Twin Astrograph Catalog, TAC – (''catalog'') Twin Astrograph Catalog * International Atomic Time, 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

in their cores'' * Télescope à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires, TAROT – (''telescope'') Télescope à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires * The Amateur Sky Survey, TASS – (''observing program'') The Amateur Sky Survey * Thousand Astronomical Unit, TAU – (''spacecraft'') Thousand Astronomical Unit, ''a spacecraft mission proposed in the 1980s that would reach 1000 astronomical unit, AU in 50 years'' * Barycentric Coordinate Time, TCB – (''astrophysics terminology'') Barycentric Coordinate Time * TCC – Theory of Cryptography Conference * Geocentric Coordinate Time, TCG – (''astrophysics terminology'') Geocentric Coordinate Time * Barycentric Dynamical Time, TDB – (''astrophysics terminology'') Barycentric Dynamical Time * Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, TDRSS – (''communications network'') Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, ''an array of satellites used by

to communicate with many spacecraft in low Earth orbit'' * Thermal Emission Spectrometer, TES – (''instrumentation'') Thermal Emission Spectrometer, ''a

on the

'' * Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, 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'' * Transits of Extrasolar Planets, TEP – (''organization'') Transits of Extrasolar Planets * Terrestrial gamma-ray flash, TGF – (''celestial object'') – Terrestrial gamma-ray flash,

s emitted from Earth's lightning storms * Thermal Emission Imaging System, THEMIS – (''instrumentation'') Thermal Emission Imaging System, ''a camera on the 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Odyssey spacecraft'' * TIC – (''catalog'') Tycho Input Catalog, ''a predecessor of the Hipparcos Input Catalog'' * Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, TIFR – (''organization'') – Tata Institute of Fundamental Research - India * TIR – (''astrophysics terminology'') total infrared * TIMED – (''spacecraft'') thermosphere ionosphere mesosphere energetics and dynamics * Telescopes In Education, TIE – (''organization'') Telescopes In Education * Transient lunar phenomenon, TLP – (''astrophysics terminology'') Transient Lunar Phenomenon, ''an unexplained flash of light observed from the

'' * Taurus Molecular Cloud, TMC – (''celestial object'') Taurus Molecular Cloud * Thirty Meter Telescope, TMT – (''telescope'') – Thirty Meter Telescope, ''formerly known as California Extremely Large Telescope'' * Telescope Nut, TN – (''person'') telescope nut, nickname for an amateur telescope maker * Trans-Neptunian object, TNO – (''celestial object'') trans-Neptunian object, ''any object that orbits the

at a distance greater than that of Neptune'' * TO – (''person'') telescope operator, ''the technician who assists in operating a telescope during astronomical observations'' * Toward Other Planetary Systems, TOPS – (''meeting'') Toward Other Planetary Systems, ''a series of educational astronomy workshops'' * Terrestrial Planet Finder, TPF – (''telescope'') Terrestrial Planet Finder, ''a planned space telescope that will be used to find extrasolar planet, extrasolar Earth-like planets'' *Theorem Proving in Higher Order Logics, TPHOLs – Theorem Proving in Higher-Order Logics * Transition Region and Coronal Explorer, TRACE – Transition Region and Coronal Explorer, ''a solar space telescope'' * TrES – (''telescope'') Transatlantic Exoplanet Survey * Terrestrial Time, TT – (''astrophysics terminology'') Terrestrial Time ** ''also'' TDT – terrestrial dynamical time * T Tauri star, TTS – (''celestial object'') T-Tauri star * TW Hydrae association, TWA – (''celestial object'') TW Hydrae Association * Hipparcos Catalogue, TYC – (''catalog'') Tycho, ''a catalog that was the predecessor of the Hipparcos Catalogue, Hipparcos (HIP) Catalogue'' * Thorne–Żytkow object, TZO – (''celestial object'') Thorne–Żytkow object, ''the object that forms when a

merges with a red giant''

U

UAI
– Union Astronomique Internationale * Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, UARS – (''spacecraft'') Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, ''a satellite used to study the Earth's upper atmosphere'' * UCAC – (''catalog'') USNO CCD Astrometric Catalog * Uppsala-ESO Survey of Asteroids and Comets, UESAC – (''observing program'') Uppsala-ESO Survey of Asteroids and Comets * Unidentified Flying Object, UFO – (''astrophysics terminology'') unidentified flying object * dwarf nova, UG – (''celestial object'') U Geminorum, ''a class of cataclysmic variable, cataclysmic variable stars (also known as dwarf novae) that are named after U Geminorum, the archetype for the class'' ** dwarf nova, UGSS – (''celestial object'') UG SS Cygni, ''a subclass of dwarf nova, UG-type stars named after SS Cygni, the archetype for the subclass'' ** dwarf nova, UGSU – (''celestial object'') UG SU Ursae Majoris, ''a subclass of dwarf nova, UG-type stars named after SU Ursae Majoris, the archetype for the subclass'' ** dwarf nova, UGWZ – (''celestial object'') UG WZ Sagittae, ''a subclass of dwarf nova, UG-type stars named after WZ Sagittae, the archetype for the subclass'' ** dwarf nova, UGZ – (''celestial object'') UG Z Camelopardalis, ''a subclass of dwarf nova, UG-type stars named after Z Camelopardalis, the archetype for the subclass'' * Uppsala General Catalogue, UGC – (''catalog'') Uppsala General Catalogue, ''a catalog of galaxies'' * Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope, UIT – (''telescope'') Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope, ''an

telescope that was operated from the cargo bay of the

'' * UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey, UKIDSS – (''observing program/catalog'') United Kingdom Infrared Telescope, UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey * United Kingdom Infrared Telescope, UKIRT – (''telescope'') United Kingdom Infrared Telescope * UKSA – (''organization'') UK Space Agency * UKST – (''telescope'') United Kingdom Schmidt Telescope * Ultraluminous infrared galaxy, ULIRG – (''celestial object'') UltraLuminous InfraRed Galaxy, ''a galaxy that is brighter than 10¹² solar luminosities in the

'' * Ultraluminous X-ray source, ULX – (''celestial object'') ultraluminous x-ray source * UMS – (''celestial object'') Upper Main sequence, Main Sequence, ''the more massive hydrogen-burning

s'' * United States Air Force, USAF – (''organization'') United States Air Force * United States Geological Survey, USGS – (''organization'') United States Geological Survey * United States Naval Observatory, USNO – (''organization'') United States Naval Observatory * Universal Time, UT – (''astrophysics terminology'') Universal Time * Coordinated Universal Time, UTC – (''astrophysics terminology'') Coordinated Universal Time * Ultraviolet, UV – (''astrophysics terminology'') ultraviolet * Ultraviolet Spectrometer, UVS – (''instrumentation'') UltraViolet Spectrometer, ''the name of instruments on the Voyager program, Voyager and 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 *Zwicky Catalogue, UZC – Updated Zwicky Catalogue

V

* Vainu Bappu Observatory, VBO – (''organization'') Vainu Bappu Observatory, ''located in India'' * Vainu Bappu telescope, VBT – (''telescope'') Vainu Bappu Telescope, ''located at Vainu Bappu Observatory'' * VCC – (''catalog'') Virgo Cluster Catalog, ''a catalog of galaxies in the Virgo Cluster'' * Vereinigung der Sternfreunde, VdS – (''organization'') Vereinigung der Sternfreunde, ''the German

society'' * VEEGA – (''astrophysics terminology'') Venus-Earth-Earth Gravity Assist, ''the path taken by the Galileo spacecraft to reach

'' * VeLLO – (celestial object) very-low-luminosity object * VERITAS – (''telescope'') Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System, ''gamma ray, gamma-ray telescope in Arizona sensitive to GeV/TeV

s'' * VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry, VERA – (''telescope'') VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry, ''a Japanese radio telescope designed for studying objects in the

'' * VHE – (''astrophysics terminology'') Very High Energy, ''

s with high energies'' * VIMOS – (''instrumentation'') VIsible Multi-Object Spectrograph, ''instrument on the VLT''
VIPERS
– VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey an ESO Large Program * VISTA (telescope), VISTA – (''telescope'') Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy * Very Large Array, VLA – (''telescope'') Very Large Array, ''a radio telescope in New Mexico operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory'' * Very Long Baseline Array, VLBA – (''telescope'') Very Long Baseline Array, ''a radio telescope operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory with antennas spread across the United States'' * Very long baseline interferometry, VLBI – (''instrumentation'') very long baseline interferometry, ''combining signals from multiple telescopes/radio antennas that are separated by large distances'' * VLM – (''astrophysics terminology'') very low mass, ''objects (usually stars) that have relatively low masses'' * VLT – (''telescope'') Very Large Telescope, ''four 8.2 meter telescopes in Chile that operate either independently as individual telescopes or together as an interferometer'' * VLT-SPHERE – (''instrumentation'') Spectro-Polarimetric High-Contrast Exoplanet Research; istalled at VLT's UT3 * Virtual Meteor Observatory, VMO – (''software'') The Virtual Meteor Observatory is an activity of the International Meteor Organization together with the Research and Scientific Support Department of the European Space Agency to store meteor data from observers all over the world. * Virtual Observatory, VO – (''software'') Virtual Observatory * Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar, VOIR – (''spacecraft'') Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar, ''a spacecraft for mapping Venus that was canceled and then superseded by the Magellan spacecraft'' * Magellan spacecraft, VRM – (''spacecraft'') Venus Radar Mapper, ''an older name for the Magellan spacecraft'' * Variable Star Observers League in Japan, VSOLJ – (''organization'') Variable Star Observers League in Japan * VLBI Space Observatory Program, VSOP – (''organization'') VLBI Space Observatory Program, ''a project to use both satellites and ground-based radio telescopes as an interferometer'' * VLT Survey Telescope, VST – (''telescope'') VLT Survey Telescope *Vorontsov-Vel'yaminov Interacting Galaxies, VV – Vorontsov-Vel'yaminov Interacting Galaxies * VVDS – (''observing program'') VIMOS- VLT Deep Survey

W

WALLABY
– a survey of neutral

in galaxies * White dwarf, WD – (''celestial object'') white dwarf * Warm dark matter, WDM – (''astrophysics terminology'') warm dark matter, ''any model for structure formation in the universe that characterizes "hot" particles such as

s as

'' * Washington Double Star Catalog, WDS – (''catalog'') Washington Double Star, ''a catalog of double stars'' * Whole Earth Blazar Telescope, WEBT – (''organization'') Whole Earth Blazar Telescope, ''a network of observers across the Earth who work together to perform continuous observations of blazars'' * Whole Earth Telescope, WET – (''organization'') Whole Earth Telescope, ''a network of astronomers spread across the Earth who work together to perform continuous observations of

s'' * WFCAM – (''instrumentation'') Wide Field Camera, ''a camera on the

'' * 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'' * Wide Field and Planetary Camera, WFPC – (''instrumentation'') Wide Field and Planetary Camera, ''a camera formerly on the

that was replaced with Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, WFPC2'' * Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, 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'' * Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature, WGPSN – (''organization'') Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature * William Herschel Telescope, WHT – (''telescope'') William Herschel Telescope * Weakly Interacting Massive Particle, 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'' *Wide Field Infrared Explorer, WIRE – Wide Field Infrared Explorer * Web Interface for Searching Archival Research Data, WISARD – (''software'') Web Interface for Searching Archival Research Data * Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, WISE – (''observing program'') Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer * WIYN Observatory, 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'' * Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte, WLM – (''celestial object'') Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte, ''a nearby dwarf galaxy in the constellation Cetus'' * Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, WMAP – (''telescope'') Wilkinson Microwave Anisotrophy Probe, ''a space telescope used to study the

'' * Wolf–Rayet star, 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

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

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'' * Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, WSRT – (''telescope'') an aperture synthesis interferometer that consists of a linear array of 14 antennas * Weak-lined T Tauri star, WTTS – (''celestial object'') weak-line t-tauri star, ''a type of young star with weak spectral line emission''

X

* XMM Cluster Survey, XCS – (''observing program'') XMM-Newton, XMM Cluster Survey * XIS – (''instrumentation'') X-ray imaging spectrometer, ''an instrument on the ASTRO-E, Suzaku space telescope'' * XMM-Newton, XMM – (''telescope'') X-ray Multi-Mirror, ''the XMM-Newton earth-orbiting

-sensitive telescope'' * X-ray nova, XN – (''celestial object'') x-ray nova * X-ray flash (astronomy), XRF – (''celestial object'') x-ray flash

Y

* Blue straggler, Ys – (''celestial object'') yellow straggler * Yellow supergiant, YSG – (''celestial object'') yellow super giant star * Young stellar object, YSO – (''celestial object'') young stellar object

Z

* ZAHB – (''celestial object'') "zero-age" horizontal branch, ''horizontal branch stars that have just begun burning helium in their cores and hydrogen in a shell around the cores'' * ZAMS – (''celestial object'') zero age main sequence, ''a star that has just become a

(i.e. a star that has begun burning hydrogen in its core)'' * Z Andromedae variable, ZAND – (''celestial object'') Z ANDromedae, ''a class of eruptive

s named after the

Z Andromedae, the archetype for the class'' ** Z Andromedae variable, ZANDE – (''celestial object'') Z ANDromedae with eclipses, ''a subclass of ZAND stars where the stars eclipse each other'' * ZEPLIN – (''instrumentation'') ZonEd proportional scintillation in liquid noble gases, ''a dark matter detector'' * Zenithal Hourly Rate, ZHR – (''astrophysics terminology'') zenith hourly rate, ''the maximum number of meteors per hour that may be observed during a meteor shower'' * Z-FOURGE – (''survey'') The FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey *Zone of Avoidance, ZOA – Zone of Avoidance

References

AAVSO Type List
Information retrieved on 2006-09-10 – 2006-09-11

Information retrieved on 2006-08-28 – 2006-09-12

Information retrieved on 2006-08-27 – 2006-09-12
Frequently Seen Space/Astronomy Acronyms
Information retrieved on 2006-08-27 – 2006-09-12

External links

Astronomy Acronyms and Astronomy Abbreviations
Astronomy-related lists, Acronyms Lists of acronyms, Astronomy