2MASS 2 Micron All Sky Survey

AAAC Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee

AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science

AAG Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants

AANM Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium

AAPF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellows

AAS American Astronomical Society

ACS Advanced Camera for Surveys

ACTA Atmospheric Čerenkov Telescope Array

AGIS Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System

AGU American Geophysical Union

ALFA Adaptive optics with a Laser for Astronomy

ALMA Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

ALTAIR Access to Large Telescopes for Astronomical Instruction and Research

AO adaptive optics

AO Announcement of Opportunity

APRA Astronomy and Physics Research and Analysis

APS American Physical Society

ARCADE Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission

ARISE Advanced Radio Interferometry between Space and Earth

ARO Arizona Radio Observatory

ARRA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

ATA Allen Telescope Array

ATI Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation

ATP Astrophysics Theory Program

ATST Advanced Technology Solar Telescope

AUI Associated Universities, Inc.

AURA Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy

BigBOSS Big Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

BLISS Background-Limited Infrared-Submillimeter Spectrograph

BPA Board on Physics and Astronomy

CANGAROO Collaboration of Australia and Nippon (Japan) for a Gamma Ray Observatory in the Outback

CARMA Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy

CATE cost appraisal and technical evaluation

CFP Cosmology and Fundamental Physics, Panel on

CMB cosmic microwave background

COBE Cosmic Background Explorer

CoBRA Coherent Online Baseband Receiver for Astronomy

Con-X Constellation-X

COROT Convection, Rotation and Planetary Transits

CSO Caltech Submillimeter Observatory

CTA Čerenkov Telescope Array

CTIO Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

CXC Chandra X-ray Observatory Center

DES Dark Energy Survey

DOE Department of Energy

DSIAC decadal survey implementation advisory committee

E-ELT European Extremely Large Telescope

EHT Event Horizon Telescope

EJSM Europa Jupiter System Mission

EOS Electromagnetic Observations from Space, Panel on

ESA European Space Agency

ESM Electromagnetic Spectrum Management

ESO European Southern Observatory

EU European Union

EVLA Expanded Very Large Array

EXIST Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope

FACA Federal Advisory Committee Act

FASR Frequency Agile Solar Radiotelescope

FFAR Federal Funding of Astronomical Research

FGST Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

FIRST Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-one Centimeters

FUSE Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer

FY fiscal year

GAIA Graphical Astronomy and Image Analysis

GALEX Galaxy Evolution Explorer

GAN Galactic Neighborhood, Panel on

GBT Green Bank Telescope

GCT Galaxies across Cosmic Time, Panel on

GEMS Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX

GMT Giant Magellan Telescope

GONG Global Oscillation Network Group

GRB gamma-ray burst

GSMT Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope

HAO High Altitude Observatory

HAWC High Altitude Water Čerenkov experiment

HEASARC High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center

HEGRA High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy

HEPAP High Energy Physics Advisory Panel

HERA Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array

HESS High Energy Stereoscopic System

HET Hobby-Eberly Telescope

HPC high-performance computing

HST Hubble Space Telescope

IAU International Astronomical Union

Inst/Tech Instrumentation and Technology Development

IPA Intergovernmental Personnel Act

IPAC Infrared Processing and Analysis Center

IR infrared

IRAS Infrared Astronomy Satellite

IRTF Infrared Telescope Facility

ISG Infrastructure Study Group

ISM interstellar medium

ITAR International Traffic in Arms Regulations

IXO International X-Ray Observatory

IYA International Year of Astronomy

JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

JDEM Joint Dark Energy Mission

JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory

JWST James Webb Space Telescope

KPNO Kitt Peak National Observatory

LBT Large Binocular Telescope

LDB Long-duration balloon

LHC Large Hadron Collider

LIGO Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory

LISA Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

LMT Large Millimeter Telescope

LSST Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

MAGIC Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging erenkov Telescope

MAST Multimission Archive at STScI

MIDEX Medium-scale Explorer

MIE Model Institutions for Excellence

MoO Mission of Opportunity

MPS Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Directorate for (NSF)

MPSAC Mathematical and Physical Sciences Advisory Committee

MREFC Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction

MRI Major Research Instrumentation

MSP Math and Science Partnership

NAIC National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NICMOS Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer

NOAO National Optical Astronomy Observatory

NRAO National Radio Astronomy Observatory

NRC National Research Council

NSB National Science Board

NSF National Science Foundation

NSF-AGS National Science Foundation Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences

NSF-AST National Science Foundation Division of Astronomical Sciences

NSF-OCI National Science Foundation Office of CyberInfrastructure

NSF-OPP National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs

NSF-PHY National Science Foundation Division of Physics

NSO National Solar Observatory

NuSTAR Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array

NVSS NRAO VLA Sky Survey

OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

OHEP Office of High Energy Physics (DOE)

OIR optical and infrared; Optical and Infrared Astronomy from the Ground, Panel on

OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy

PAG Particle Astrophysics and Gravitation, Panel on

PASAG Particle Astrophysics Scientific Assessment Group

PLATO Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars

PPP Program Prioritization Panel

PSF Planetary Systems and Star Formation, Panel on

R&A research and analysis

R&D research and development

R&E research and education

ReSTAR Renewing Small Telescopes for Astronomical Research

REU Research Experiences for Undergraduates

RFI request for information

RMS radio, millimeter, and submillimeter; Radio, Millimeter, and Submillimeter Astronomy from the Ground, Panel on

RXTE Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer

SALT South African Large Telescope

SDO Solar Dynamics Observatory

SDSS Sloan Digital Sky Survey

SETI Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

SFP Science Frontiers Panel

SIM Space Interferometry Mission

SKA Square Kilometer Array

SKA-low Square Kilometer Array, low-frequency

SMA Submillimeter Array

SMD Science Mission Directorate (NASA)

SMEX Small Explorer

SOAR Southern Astrophysical Research

SOFIA Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy

SOHO Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

SPICA Space Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics

SPT South Pole Telescope

SSB Space Studies Board

SSE Stars and Stellar Evolution, Panel on

STC Science and Technology Center

STEM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

STEREO Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory

STScI Space Telescope Science Institute

Tech/MSP Technology development and mid-scale projects

TMT Thirty-Meter Telescope

TRACE Transition Region and Coronal Explorer

TSIP Telescope System Instrument Program

UK United Kingdom

ULDB ultralong-duration balloon

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

URO University Radio Observatory

UV ultraviolet

VERITAS Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System

VLA Very Large Array

VLBA Very Long Baseline Array

VLT Very Large Telescope

WFIRST Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope

WISE Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer

WIYN Wisconsin, Indiana, Yale, and NOAO Observatory

WMAP Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe

XEUS X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy

XMM X-ray Multi-mirror Mission