951 abbreviations
Abbreviation Meaning
AMS (organization) American Meteor Society
AN (publication) Astronomische Nachrichten, a German scientific journal
ANS (telescope) Astronomical Netherlands Satellite
ANS (organization) Astro News Service
ANSI (organization) American National Standards Institute
AO (instrumentation) Adaptive Optics
AOR (instrumentation) Astronomical Observation Request
ApJ (publication) Astrophysical Journal
ApJL (publication) Astrophysical Journal Letters
ApJS (publication) Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
APM (instrumentation/catalog), Automatic Plate Measuring machine, a machine for making measurements from photographic plates; also, a catalog based on measurements by the machine
APO (organization) Apache Point Observatory
APOD (data) Astronomy Picture of the Day
APT (telescope) Automated Patrol Telescope
ARC (organization) Ames Research Center
ARC (organization) Astrophysical Research Consortium
ASA (organization) Astronomical Society of the Atlantic
ASI (organization) Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
ASIAA (organization) Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics
ASP (organization) Astronomical Society of the Pacific
ASTRO (spacecraft) Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations
ATA (telescope) Allen Telescope Array, a radio interferometer array developed by the SETI Institute to search for possible signals from extraterrestrial life
ATCA (telescope) Australia Telescope Compact Array
ATM (person) hobbyist engaged in Amateur telescope making (may also refer to the book of the same title, Amateur Telescope Making)
AU (measurement) Astronomical Unit, the distance between the Earth and the Sun
AUASS (organization) Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences
AURA (organization) Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
AWCA (meeting) American Workshop on Cometary Astronomy, an older name for the International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy
AXAF (telescope) Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, an older name for the Chandra X-ray Observatory
AXP (celestial object) Anomalous X-Ray Pulsar
B (catalog) Barnard catalog
BAA (organization) British Astronomical Association
BAAS (publication) Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society
BAC (catalog) Bordeaux Astrographic Catalog
BAO (organization) Beijing Astronomical Observatory
BASIS (observing program) Burst and All Sky Imaging Survey
BAT (instrumentation) Burst Alert Telescope, an instrument on SWIFT
BATC (observing program) Beijing-Arizona-Taiwan-Connecticut, the name of a multi-wavelength sky survey
BATSE (instrument) Burst and Transient Source Experiment, an instrument on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory
BATTeRS (telescope) Bisei Asteroid Tracking Telescope for Rapid Survey
BB (astrophysics terminology) Black Body
BBXRT (telescope) Broad Band X-Ray Telescope
BCD (celestial object) Blue Compact Dwarf
BCD (software) Basic Calibrated Data, data produced after basic processing
BCEP (celestial object) Beta CEPhei, a class of pulsating variable stars for which Beta Cephei is the archetypal object
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