| Acronyms & Useful Stuff |
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This page has been created to help beginners walk through the minefield of jargon and acronyms that you just couldn’t realistically be expected to know at the start of your astronomy journey. I have also added some handy stuff at the bottom, that I have found useful over the years. As usual, if you would like something added to this or any other page, simply drop me a line via the contact page.
A
ALT
Altitude APO
Apochromatic APOD
Astronomy picture of the day ATM
Amateur Telescope Maker/Making AZ
Azimuth B C
CCD
Charge-Coupled Device CMOS
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor D
DEC
Declination
DOB
Dobsonian DSLR
Digital single lens reflex DSO
Deep Sky (or Space) Object E
ED
Extra-low dispersion EP
Eyepiece EQ
Equatorial F
FOV
Field Of View G
GEM
German Equatorial Mount GMT
Greenwich Mean Time (also called UT) GPS
Global Positioning System GSO
Guan Sheng Optical H
Hα
Hydrogen Alpha HST
Hubble Space Telescope I
IR
Infra-Red ISS
International Space Station J
K L
LASER
Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation LEO
Low Earth Orbit LMC
Large Magellanic Cloud M
M
Messier (as in M31, M13, M57, etc.) MGS
Mars Global Surveyor MMT
Multiple Mirror Telescope N
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration NEAR
Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (now named NEAR Shoemaker) NGC
New General Catalog NGST
Next Generation Space Telescope NICMOS
Near Infrared Camera / Multi Object Spectrometer NIR
Near Infra-Red NS
Neutron Star NTT
New Technology Telescope O
OTA
Optical Tube Assembly OTA
Optical Telescope Assembly P Q
QSO
Quasi-Stellar Object R
RA
Right Ascension RNGC
Revised New General Catalog RTG
Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator S
SAO
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory SAT
Synthetic Aperture Telescope SCT
Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope SETI
Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence SMC
Small Magellanic Cloud SNR
Signal to Noise Ratio SOHO
Solar Heliospheric Observatory SST
Spectroscopic Survey Telescope T U
UFO
Unidentified Flying Object UHT
Ultra-high Transmission UT
Universal Time (a.k.a. GMT, or Zulu Time; cf UTC) UTC
Coordinated Universal Time (subtly different from UT) UV
Ultra-Violet UVS
Ultra-Violet Spectrometer V
VLT
Very Large Telescope W X Y
YSO
Young Stellar Object Z NATO Phonetic Alphabet
GREEK Alphabet
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