Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s (2023)
Chapter: Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations
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Suggested Citation:
"Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26141.
P
Acronyms and Abbreviations
| 4MOST | 4-Metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope |
| A&G | acquisition and guiding |
| AAAC | Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee |
| AAAS | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| AAG | Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants |
| AAS | American Astronomical Society |
| ACT | Atacama Cosmology Telescope |
| ACTPOL | Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarization Survey |
| ADA | Americans with Disabilities Act |
| ADAP | Astrophysics Data Analysis Program |
| ADAS | Astronomical Data Archiving System |
| AEON | Astronomical Event Observatory Network |
| AER | Astronomy Education Research |
| AGB | asymptotic giant branch |
| AGEP | Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate |
| AGN | active galactic nuclei |
| AI | artificial intelligence |
| AIP | American Institute of Physics |
| AIPS | Astronomical Image Processing System |
| ALMA | Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array |
| AM CVn | Canum Venaticorum |
| AMANDA | Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array |
| AMEGO | All-Sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory |
| AMO | atomic, molecular, and optical |
| ANITA | Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna |
| AO | adaptive optics |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26141.
| AO | announcement of opportunity |
| AON | Arctic Observing Network |
| APC | activity, project, or state of the profession white paper |
| APL | Applied Physics Laboratory |
| APO | Apache Point Observatory |
| APOGEE | Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment |
| APRA | Astrophysics Research and Analysis |
| APS | American Physical Society |
| APT | Advanced Particle-Astrophysics Telescope |
| ARA | Askaryan Radio Array |
| ARC | Astrophysics Research Consortium Telescope |
| ARGOS | Advanced Rayleigh Guided Ground Layer Adaptive Optics System |
| ARIANNA | Antarctic Ross Ice-Shelf Antenna Neutrino Array |
| ARIEL | Atmospheric Remote Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-Survey |
| ASAS-SN | All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae |
| ASCR | Advanced Scientific Computing Research |
| ASKAP | Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder |
| ASM | adaptive secondary mirror |
| AST | NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences |
| Athena | Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics |
| ATI | Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation |
| ATP | Astrophysics Theory Program |
| AU | astronomical unit |
| AUI | Associated Universities, Inc. |
| AURA | Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy |
| AXAF | Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility |
| AXIS | Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite |
| BAO | baryon acoustic oscillations |
| BBN | Big Bang Nucleosynthesis |
| BH | black hole |
| BICEP | Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization |
| BOINC | Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing |
| CALIFA | Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area |
| CARMA | Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy |
| CASTOR | Cosmological Advanced Survey Telescope for Optical and UV Research |
| CATE | cost and technical evaluation |
| CCAT | Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope |
| CCD | charge-coupled device |
| CDM | cold dark matter |
| CE | Cosmic Explorer |
| CERN | European Council for Nuclear Research (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) |
| CETUS | Cosmic Evolution Through UV Surveys |
| CGI | coronagraph instrument |
| CGM | circumgalactic medium |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26141.
| CHARA | Center for High Resolution Astronomy |
| CHEOPS | Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite |
| CHIME | Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment |
| CHORD | Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio-Transient Detector |
| CLASS | Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor |
| CMB | cosmic microwave background |
| CMB-S4 | Cosmic Microwave Background Stage 4 |
| CME | coronal mass ejection |
| CMOS | complementary metal oxide semiconductor |
| CMS | concept maturation study |
| CNES | Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales/National Centre for Space Studies |
| CNM | cold neutral medium |
| CORF | Committee on Radio Frequencies |
| CoRoT | Convection Rotation and Planetary Transits |
| COS | Cosmic Origins Spectrograph |
| COSI | Compton Spectrometer and Imager |
| COSMO | Coronal Solar Magnetism Observatory |
| COVID-19 | coronavirus disease 2019 |
| CPD | circumplanetary disk |
| CPU | central processing unit |
| CSBF | Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility |
| CSDC | Community Science and Data Center |
| CSMA | Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy |
| CSO | Caltech Submillimeter Observatory |
| CSWA | Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy |
| CTA | Cherenkov Telescope Array |
| CTE | coefficient of thermal expansion |
| CTIO | Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory |
| DA | discovery area |
| DECam | Dark Energy Camera |
| DESI | Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument |
| DFW | drop, fail, or withdraw |
| DKIST | Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope |
| DLR | Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V./German Aerospace Center |
| DM | dark matter |
| DMR | Division of Materials Research |
| DMS | Division of Mathematical Sciences |
| DoD | Department of Defense |
| DOE | Department of Energy |
| DRM | design reference mission |
| DSA-2000 | Deep Synoptic Array 2000 |
| DSOC | deep space optical communications |
| DST/HCIT | Decadal Survey Testbed/High Contrast Imaging Testbed |
| EBIO | Education, Broader Impacts, and Outreach |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26141.
| EDGES | Experiment to Detect the Global EoR Signature |
| E-ELT | European Extremely Large Telescope |
| EGS | Extended Groth Strip |
| EHT | Event Horizon Telescope |
| ELT | Extremely Large Telescope |
| ELTP | Extremely Large Telescope Program |
| EM | electromagnetic |
| EoR | epoch of reionization |
| EOVSA | Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array |
| EP3 | Effective Practices for Physics Programs |
| EPRV | extreme precision radial velocity |
| eROSITA | Extended Roentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array |
| ESA | European Space Agency |
| ESCAPE | Extreme-Ultraviolet Stellar Characterization for Atmospheric Physics and Evolution |
| ESDIS | Earth Science Data and Information System |
| ESM | Electromagnetic Spectrum Management Group |
| ESO | European Southern Observatory |
| ESS | Exoplanet Science Strategy |
| ETL | Exoplanet Technology Laboratory |
| Euclid DF-Fornax | Euclid Deep Field Fornax |
| Euclid DF-S | Euclid Deep Field South |
| Euclid NEP | Euclid North Ecliptic Pole |
| EUV | extreme ultraviolet |
| EVLA | Expanded Very Large Array |
| Far-IR | far-infrared |
| FASR | Frequency Agile Solar Radiotelescope |
| FaST | Faculty and Student Teams |
| FAST | Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope |
| FBOT | fast and blue optical transient |
| FCC | Federal Communications Commission |
| FDSS | Faculty Development in Space Sciences |
| FIP | Far-IR Imager Polarimeter |
| FMR | SOFIA Five Year Flagship Mission Review |
| FOBOS | Fiber-Optic Broadband Optical Spectrograph |
| FOM | figure of merit |
| FOV | field of view |
| FRB | fast radio burst |
| FTE | full-time employee |
| FTS | Fourier transform spectrometer |
| FUV | far ultraviolet |
| FY | fiscal year |
| GADGET | Galaxies with Dark Matter and Gas Interact |
| GALAH | Galactic Archaeology with HERMES |
| GALFA | Galactic Arecibo L-Band Feed Array HI Survey |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26141.
| GBO | Green Bank Observatory |
| GBT | Green Bank Telescope |
| GC | globular cluster |
| G-CLEF | GMT Consortium Large Earth Finder |
| GECAM | Gravitational Wave High-Energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-Sky Monitor |
| GeMS | Gemini Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics System |
| GEP | Galaxy Evolution Probe |
| GeV | gigaelectronvolt |
| GLAO | ground layer adaptive optics |
| GMACS | GMT Multi-Object Astronomy and Cosmology Spectrograph |
| GmagAO-X | Giant Magellan Telescope Extreme Adaptive Optics |
| GMT | Giant Magellan Telescope |
| GMTIFS | GMT Integral Field Spectrograph |
| GMTNIRS | GMT Near-IR Spectrograph |
| GNAO | Gemini North Adaptive Optics |
| GO | guest observer |
| GOMMTD | Great Observatory Mission Maturation and Technology Development |
| GONG | Global Oscillations Network Group |
| GOODS-N | Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-North |
| GOODS-S | Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-South |
| GPI | Gemini Planet Imager |
| GPS | global positioning system |
| GPU | graphical processing unit |
| GR | general relativity |
| GRB | gamma-ray burst |
| GRE | Graduate Record Examination |
| GR-MHD | general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics |
| GST | Goode Solar Telescope |
| GUSTO | Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory |
| GW | gravitational wave |
| GWOSC | Gravitational Wave Open Science Center |
| Gyr | gigayear |
| HabEx | Habitable Exoplanet Observatory |
| HAWC | High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory |
| HBCU | Historically Black College and University |
| HE | high energy |
| HEASARC | High Energy Astrophysics Science Research Center |
| HEP | High Energy Physics |
| HERA | Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array |
| HERMES | Heliophysics Environmental and Radiation Measurement Experiment Suite |
| HET | Hobby-Eberly Telescope |
| HI | neutral hydrogen |
| HIRAX | Hydrogen Intensity and Real-Time Analysis Experiment |
| HOSTS | Hunt for Observable Signatures of Terrestrial Systems |
| HPC | high-performance computing |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26141.
| HPD | half power diameter |
| HR | Hertzsprung-Russell |
| HSI | Hispanic Serving Institution |
| HST | Hubble Space Telescope |
| HTC | high-throughput computing |
| HXDI | High Definition X-ray Imager |
| HZ | habitable zone |
| IACT | Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope |
| IAU | International Astronomical Union |
| IceCube-Gen2 | IceCube Generation 2 |
| ICM | intracluster medium |
| IFU | integral field unit |
| IGM | intergalactic medium |
| IGW | inflationary gravitational waves |
| IMBH | intermediate-mass black hole |
| IMF | initial mass function |
| INCITE | Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment |
| IPAC | Infrared Processing and Analysis Center |
| IPTA | International Pulsar Timing Array |
| IR | infrared |
| IRAF | Image Reduction and Analysis Facility |
| IRIS | Infrared Imaging Spectrometer |
| IR/O/UV | infrared/optical/ultraviolet |
| IRTF | Infrared Telescope Facility |
| ISM | interstellar medium |
| ISO | Infrared Space Observatory |
| ISS | International Space Station |
| ITU | International Telecommunications Union |
| IXO | International X-ray Observatory |
| IVOA | International Virtual Observatory Alliance |
| IXPE | Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer |
| JAXA | Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency |
| JHU | Johns Hopkins University |
| JPL | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| JWST | James Webb Space Telescope |
| KAGRA | Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector |
| KAPA | Keck All-Sky Precision Adaptive Optics |
| KBO | Kuiper Belt object |
| KLIP | Karhunen-Loève image processing |
| KPIC | Keck Planet Imager and Characterizer |
| KPNO | Kitt Peak National Observatory |
| LAT | Large Aperture Telescope |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26141.
| LBA | Long Baseline Array |
| LBT | Large Binocular Telescope |
| LBTI | Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer |
| LBTO | Large Binocular Telescope Observatory |
| LCIT | Large Mission Concept Independent Assessment Team |
| LCOGT | Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope |
| LDB | long duration balloon |
| LEAP | Large Area Burst Polarimeter |
| LEDA | Large-Aperture Experiment to Detect the Dark Ages |
| LEO | low Earth orbit |
| LGBTQIA+ | lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual, plus |
| LHAASO | Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory |
| LHC | Large Hadron Collider |
| LIGO | Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory |
| LISA | Laser Interferometer Space Antenna |
| LMA | Lynx Mirror Assembly |
| LMC | Large Magellanic Cloud |
| LMT | Large Millimeter Telescope |
| LSST | Legacy Survey of Space and Time |
| LTAO | laser tomography adaptive optics |
| LTK | local and traditional knowledge |
| LUVOIR | Large UV/Optical/IR Surveyor |
| LXM | Lynx X-ray Microcalorimeter |
| LyC | Lyman continuum |
| MAGIC | Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov Telescope |
| MaNGA | Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO |
| MARC | Maximizing Access to Research Careers |
| mas | milliarcseconds |
| MCAO | multi-conjugate adaptive optics |
| MEMS | micro-electro-mechanical-system |
| MESA | Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics |
| MEV | Maximum Expected Value |
| MHD | magnetohydrodynamics |
| MIDEX | Medium-Class Explorer |
| MINERVA-Australis | Miniature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array-Australis |
| MIR | mid-infrared |
| MIRC | Michigan Infrared Beam Combiner |
| MISC-T | Mid-Infrared Spectrometer Camera Transit Spectrometer |
| MKID | microwave kinetic induction detector |
| MKO | Mauna Kea Observatory |
| MKSR | Mauna Kea Science Reserve |
| MLSO | Mauna Loa Solar Observatory |
| MMA | multi-messenger astrophysics |
| MMT | Multiple Mirror Telescope |
| MO and MoO | mission of opportunity |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26141.
| MOAO | multi-object adaptive optics |
| MODHIS | Multi-Object Diffraction-Limited High-Resolution Infrared Spectrograph |
| MP | Mentoring Plan |
| MPE | Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics |
| MPS | Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| MREFC | Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction |
| MRI | Major Research Instrumentation |
| MROI | Magdalena Ridge Optical Interferometer |
| MRSEC | Materials Research Science and Engineering Center |
| MSE | Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer |
| MSFC | Marshall Space Flight Center |
| MSI | Minority-Serving Institution |
| MSIP | Mid-Scale Innovations Program |
| MSO | Mid-Scale Opportunity |
| MSRI | Mid-scale Research Infrastructure |
| MUCERPI | Minority University and College Education and Research Partnership Initiative |
| MWA | Murchison Widefield Array |
| NANOGrav | North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NEID | NN-EXPLORE Exoplanet Investigations with Doppler Spectroscopy |
| NEO | near-Earth object |
| NEOWISE | Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer |
| NFIRAOS | narrow field infrared adaptive optics system |
| ngVLA | Next Generation Very Large Array |
| NICER | Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer |
| NIH | National Institutes of Health |
| NIR | near-infrared |
| NIST | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| NLSO | NASA LISA Studies Office |
| NN-EXPLORE | NASA-NSF Exoplanet Observational Research Program |
| NOAA | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
| NOAO | National Optical Astronomy Observatory |
| NOIRLab | National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory |
| NPOI | Navy Precision Optical Interferometer |
| NRAO | National Radio Astronomy Observatory |
| NS | neutron star |
| NS-EOS | neutron star equation of state |
| NSB | National Science Board |
| NSBP | National Society of Black Physicists |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| NSHP | National Society of Hispanic Physicists |
| NSO | National Solar Observatory |
| NSPIRES | NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System |
| NTIA | National Telecommunications and Information Administration |
| NuSTAR | Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26141.
| NVO | National Virtual Observatory |
| NWNH | New Worlds, New Horizons report |
| O&M | operations and maintenance |
| OIR | optical and infrared |
| OMB | Office of Management and Budget |
| ORM | Roque de los Muchachos Observatory |
| OSS | open source software |
| OSS | Origins Survey Spectrometer |
| P5 | Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel |
| PAARE | Partnerships in Astronomy and Astrophysics Research |
| PAG | Program Analysis Group |
| PAH | polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon |
| PAMS | Portfolio Analysis and Management System |
| Pan-STARRS | Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System |
| pc | parallax of one arcsecond (parsec) |
| PDR | Preliminary Design Review |
| PER | Physics Education Research |
| PFS | Prime Focus Spectrograph |
| PGRE | Physics Graduate Record Examination |
| PHAT | Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury Project |
| PI | principal investigator |
| PIC | particle-in-cell |
| PICASO | Planetary Intensity Code for Atmospheric Scattering |
| PICTURE | Planetary Imaging Concept Testbed Using a Recoverable Experiment |
| PISN | pair-instability supernovae |
| PLATO | Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars |
| POEMMA | Probe of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics |
| POLARBEAR | Polarization of Background Radiation |
| PTA | pulsar timing array |
| PTF | Palomar Transient Factory |
| PUI | Primarily Undergraduate Institutions |
| PUMA | Packed Ultra-Wideband Mapping Array |
| QCD | quantum chromodynamics |
| QIS | quantum information science |
| QSO | quasi-stellar object |
| R&D | research and development |
| RBIS | research-based instructional strategies |
| REU | Research Experiences for Undergraduates |
| RFI | radio frequency interference |
| RFI | request for information |
| RICE | Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment |
| RMS | radio, millimeter, and submillimeter |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26141.
| RMS | root mean square |
| RNO-G | Radio Neutrino Observatory in Greenland |
| Roman ST HLS | Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope High Latitude Survey |
| ROSAT | Roentgen Satellite |
| ROSES | Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences |
| RV | radial velocity |
| RXTE | Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer |
| SACNAS | Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science |
| SAFARI | Spica Far Infrared Instrument |
| SALT | South African Large Telescope |
| SAO | Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory |
| SAT | Small Aperture Telescope |
| SAT | Strategic Astrophysics Technology |
| SATCON | Working Group on Satellite Constellations |
| SCExAO | Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics |
| SCT | Schwartzchild-Couder IACT Telescope |
| SDO | Solar Dynamics Observatory |
| SDSS | Sloan Digital Sky Survey |
| SEA Change | STEMM Equity Achievement Change |
| SED | spectral energy distribution |
| SETI | Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence |
| SFR | star formation rate |
| SGMA | Committee for Sexual-Orientation and Gender Minorities in Astronomy |
| SIM | Athena Science Instruments Module |
| SIRTF | Space Infrared Telescope Facility |
| SKA | Square Kilometre Array |
| SLSNe | super-luminous supernovae |
| SMA | Submillimeter Array |
| SMARTS | Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System |
| SMBH | supermassive black hole |
| SMC | Small Magellanic Cloud |
| SMD | Science Mission Directorate |
| SMEX | Small Explorer |
| SNe | supernovae |
| SO | Simons Observatory |
| SOAR | Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope |
| SOFIA | Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy |
| SOLIS | Synoptic Optical Long-Term Investigations of the Sun |
| SOMER | SOFIA Operations and Maintenance Efficiency Review |
| SPB | super pressure balloon |
| SpecTel | Spectroscopic Survey Telescope |
| SPHERE | Spectro-Polarimetric High-Contrast Exoplanet Research Instrument |
| SPHEREx | Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer |
| SPICA | Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26141.
| SPO | South Pole Observatory |
| SPT | South Pole Telescope |
| SQL | structured query language |
| SQUID | superconducting quantum interference device |
| SRON | Netherlands Institute for Space Research |
| S-STEM | Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics |
| STDT | science and technology definition team |
| STEM | science, technology, engineering, and mathematics |
| STEMM | science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine |
| STIS | Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph |
| STMD | Space Technology Mission Directorate |
| STOP | Structural, Thermal, and Optical Performance |
| STScI | Space Telescope Science Institute |
| SVOM | Space Variable Objects Monitor |
| SWGO | Southern Wide-Field Gamma-ray Observatory |
| SZ | Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (effect) |
| TAP | Transient Astrophysics Probe |
| TCAN | Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics Networks |
| TCU | Tribal College and University |
| TDA | time-domain astronomy |
| TDE | tidal disruption event |
| TEAM-UP | National Task Force to Elevate African American Representation in Undergraduate Physics and Astronomy |
| TES | transition edge sensor |
| TESS | Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite |
| TIO | Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory |
| TK | Indigenous traditional knowledge |
| TMT | Thirty Meter Telescope |
| TOM | target and observation manager |
| TRACE | Technical, Risk, and Cost Evaluation |
| TRL | technology readiness level |
| TSIP | Telescope System Instrumentation Program |
| TTV | transit timing variation |
| UHE | ultra-high energy |
| UHECR | ultra-high-energy cosmic ray |
| ULDB | ultra-long duration balloon |
| ULTRA | Ultra-Stable Large Telescope Research and Analysis |
| ULX | ultraluminous X-ray |
| URO | University Radio Observatories |
| USRA | Universities Space Research Association |
| UV | ultraviolet |
| UVOT | UV-optical telescope |
| VERITAS | Very Energetic Imaging Telescope Array System |
Suggested Citation:
"Appendix P: Acronyms and Abbreviations." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
doi: 10.17226/26141.
| VFP | Visiting Faculty Program |
| VHE | very high energy |
| VLA | Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array |
| VLASS | Very Large Array Sky Survey |
| VLBA | Very Long Baseline Array |
| VLBI | very long baseline interferometry |
| VLT | Very Large Telescope |
| VLTI | Very Large Telescope Interferometer |
| WC | Women’s College |
| WD | white dwarf |
| WEAVE | William Herschel Telescope (WHT) Enhanced Area Velocity Explorer |
| WFE | wavefront error |
| WFI | Wide Field Imager |
| WFIRST | Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (renamed as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescop) |
| WFOS | Wide-Field Optical Spectrometer |
| WFS | wavefront sensor |
| WGAD | Working Group on Accessibility and Disability |
| WIA | Women in Astronomy |
| WIMP | weakly interacting massive particle |
| WISE | Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer |
| WIYN | Wisconsin-Indiana-Yale-NOAO Observatory |
| WMAP | Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe |
| WNM | warm neutral medium |
| WRC | World Radiocommunication Conference |
| XGS | Lynx X-ray Grating Spectrometer |
| X-IFU | X-ray Integral Field Unit |
| XMM-Newton | X-ray Multi Mirror Mission |
| XRISM | X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission |
| XRP | Exoplanet Research Program |
| ZDI | Zeeman Doppler Imaging |
| ZTF | Zwicky Transient Facility |
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