List of astronomy acronyms

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

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

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