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:
ADEC – (organization) Astrophysics Data Centers Executive Council, an organization that provides oversight for the Astrophysics Data and Information Services
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
ASIAA – (organization) Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics
ASKAP – (telescope) Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, a next-generation radio telescope under construction in Western Australia. It differs from previous radio-telescopes in having many pixels at the focus of each antenna.
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
ATLAS – (observing program) Australia Telescope Large Area Survey, a deep radio astronomicalsky survey of two SWIRE fields covering a total of about 7 square degrees of sky.
CDIMP – (catalog) Catalogue of Discoveries and Identifications of Minor Planets
CDM – (astrophysics terminology) Cold Dark Matter, any model for structure formation in the universe that characterize "cold" particles such as WIMPs as dark matter
CDS – (organization) Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg
CELT – (telescope) – California Extremely Large Telescope, an older name for the Thirty Meter Telescope
CEMP – (celestial object) Carbon-enhanced metal-poor, a type of carbon star
CEMP-no – (celestial object) Carbon-enhanced metal-poor star with no enhancement of elements produced by the r-process or s-processnucleosynthesis
CEMP-r – (celestial object) Carbon-enhanced metal-poor star with an enhancement of elements produced by r-processnucleosynthesis
CEMP-s – (celestial object) Carbon-enhanced metal-poor star with an enhancement of elements produced by s-processnucleosynthesis
CEMP-r/s – (celestial object) Carbon-enhanced metal-poor star with an enhancement of elements produced by both r-process and s-processnucleosynthesis
CEP – (celestial object) CEPheid, a type of pulsating variable star
CEPS – (organization) Center for Earth and Planetary Studies
CSBN – (organization) Committee for Small-Body Nomenclature
CSE – (celestial object) circumstellar envelope, a roughly spherical planetary nebula formed from dense stellar wind if not present before the formation of a star.
CSI – (catalog) Catalog of Stellar Identification, a compilation of the catalogs, BD, CD, and CPD
DNS – (celestial object) double neutron star, another name for a binary neutron star system. [Caution: Do not confuse with DNS relating to DENIS – Deep Near Infrared Survey].
DOG – (celestial object) dust-obscured galaxy, a galaxy with an unusually high ratio of infrared-to-optical emission, implying strong dust absorption and re-emission.[4]
GEM – (observing program) Galileo Europa Mission, the science observation program of Europa performed by the Galileo spacecraft
GEM – (observing program) Giotto Extended Mission, the extended operations of the Giotto spacecraft
GEMS – (organization) Group Evolution Multi-wavelength Study
GEMS – (survey) Galaxy Evolution from Morphology and Spectral energy distributions
GEMSS – (organization) Global Exoplanet M-dwarf Search-Survey, a search for exoplanets around m-dwarf stars
GEODDS – (telescope) Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance, a network of telescopes used in a United States Air Force program for observing space junk
GEOS – (organization) Groupe Européen Observations Stellaires, an amateur and professional association for study of variable stars.
GERLUMPH – (instrumentation) GPU-Enabled, High Resolution MicroLensing Parameter survey, where GPU is an acronym for Graphics Processing Unit.
GH – (catalog) Giclas Hyades, a catalog of stars in the Hyades cluster
GROSCE – (telescope) Gamma Ray Burst Optical Counterparts Search Experiment, an automated telescope used to detect the optical counterparts to gamma ray bursts
GRS – (instrumentation) Gamma Ray Spectrometer, an instrument on the Mars Observer
GRS – (celestial object) Great Red Spot, a feature in the clouds of Jupiter
HASI – (instrumentation) Huygens Atmosphere Structure Instrument, an instrument on the Huygens probe
HB – (celestial object) horizontal branch, a type of evolved red giant star in which helium is burned in the core and hydrogen is burned in a shell around the core
HBRP – (celestial object) High-magnetic field radio pulsar
HBV – (catalog) Hamburg–Bergedorf Variables, a catalog of variable stars
HBMM – (astrophysics terminology) Hydrogen-burning minimum mass
HDE – (catalog) Henry Draper Extension, a catalog of stars
HDF – (data/celestial object) Hubble Deep Field, an area of the sky with little foreground obscuration that was observed deeply with the Hubble Space Telescope; also the name for the data product itself
HEAO – (telescope) High Energy Astronomical Observatory, a series of X-ray and gamma ray space telescopes
HEASARC – (organization) High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center, a NASA organization that deals with X-ray and gamma ray telescope data
HerMES - (observing program) Herschel Multitiered Extragalactic Survey, a legacy survey of star forming galaxies using the SPIRE and PACS instrument of Herschel
HESS – (telescope) High Energy Stereoscopic System, a telescope for detecting cosmic rays
HIP – (catalog) HIPPARCOS, the catalog of data produced by Hipparcos
HIPASS – (Observing program) HI Parkes All-Sky Survey, survey of HI sources
HIPPARCOS – (telescope) HIgh Precision PARallax COllecting Satellite, a space telescope specifically designed to measure distances to stars using parallax
HISA – (astrophysical terminology) HI self-absorption region
HIRAX – (telescope) Hydrogen Intensity and Real-time Analysis eXperiment, an interferometric array of 1024 6-meter (20ft) diameter radio telescopes to be built in South Africa
HK – (catalog) Survey for metal-poor stars based on the strength of CaII H and K absorption lines
IAC – (organization) Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias
IAPPP – (organization) International Amateur/Professional Photoelectric Photometry
IAS – (organization) Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale
IASY – (observing program) International Active Sun Year, the name given to a series of coordinated Sun-related observational programs performed in 1969 and 1971
IAU – (organization) International Astronomical Union
IC – (celestial object) Intracluster, either the regions between stars in star clusters or the region between galaxies in galaxy clusters
ICE – (spacecraft) International Comet Explorer
ICM – (celestial object) intracluster medium, is the superheated gas present at the center of a galaxy cluster
ICQ – (publication) International Comet Quarterly
ICRF – (astrophysics terminology) International Celestial Reference Frame, a coordinate system based on radio sources used to define the locations of objects in the sky
ICRS – (astrophysics terminology) International Celestial Reference System, a coordinate system based on Hipparcos observations used to define the locations of objects in the sky
IDA – (organization) International Dark-Sky Association, an organization that seeks to control light pollution
IDP – (celestial object) Interplanetary Dust Particle, dust particles around planets or planetary bodies
IEO – (astrophysics terminology) inner-Earth object, the orbits of asteroids
IERS – (organization) International Earth Rotation geophysical Service or International Earth rotation and Reference systems Service, an organization that monitors the Earth's orientation with respect to the radio sources used to define the ICRF
IFN – (celestial object) integrated flux nebulae, dust and gas outside the plane of the Milky Way, which are thus illuminated by the entire galaxy as opposed to a nearby star or stars
IGR – (catalog) Integral Gamma-Ray source, a catalog based on observations by the INTEGRAL telescope
IGY – (observing program) International Geophysical Year, the name given to a series of coordinated geophysical and astronomical observation programs performed in 1957 and 1958
IHW – (organization) International Halley Watch, an organization created to coordinate observations of Halley's Comet in 1986
ILOM – (spacecraft) In-situ Lunar Orientation Measurement, a mission to measure variations in the orientation of the Moon from the Moon's surface
IOTA – (organization) International Occultation Timing Association, an organization for monitoring occultations
IPAC – (organization) Infrared Processing & Analysis Center
IPMO – (celestial object) Isolated Planetary Mass Objects, another name for isolated planemos or sub-brown dwarfs
IQSY – (observing program) International Quiet Sun Year, the name given to a series of coordinated Sun-related observational programs performed in 1964 and 1965
ISEE – (spacecraft) International Sun-Earth Explorer, a series of spacecraft designed to study the effects of the Sun on the Earth's space environment and magnetosphere
ISGRI – (instrumentation) – INTEGRAL Soft Gamma-Ray Imager, an instrument on the INTEGRAL satellite
ISTeC – (organization) International Small Telescope Cooperative
ISY – (observing program/meeting) International Space Year, the name given to a celebration of space exploration as well as a series of coordinated astronomical observations and a series of meetings to plan future astronomy research efforts
ITA – (organization) Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, one of three organizations that was combined to form the Institute of Astronomy
IUCAA – (organization) Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics - Pune, India
IUE – (telescope) International Ultraviolet Explorer, an ultraviolet space telescope
IUEDAC – (organization) IUE satellite Data Analysis Center
IWCA – (meeting) International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy
LAD-C – (instrumentation) Large Area Debris Collector, a canceled program that was to collect and catalog low orbital dust on the International Space Station
LAEFF – (organization) Laboratorio de Astrofisica Espacial y Fisica Fundamental, a Spanish astronomy research organization
LAL – (catalog) LALande, a historical catalog of stars
LAMOST – (telescope) Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope
LANL – (organization) Los Alamos National Laboratory
LEST – (telescope) large Earth-based solar telescope
LETGS – (instrumentation) Low Energy Transmission Gratings Spectrometer, an instrument on the Chandra X-Ray Observatory
also LETG
LF – (astrophysics terminology) luminosity function, the spatial density of objects such as star clusters and galaxies as a function of their luminosity
LFT – (catalog) Luyten Five-Tenths, a catalog of stars with proper motions exceeding 0.5"
LGA – (instrumentation) low-gain antenna
LGM – (celestial object) Little Green Men, a humorous name applied to pulsars soon after their discovery
LHEA – (organization) Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics
LHS – (catalog) Luyten Half-Second, a catalog of stars with proper motions exceeding 0.5"
LIC – (celestial object) Local Interstellar Cloud, the cloud in the interstellar medium through which the Solar System is currently moving
LIGO – (telescope) Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, an instrument for detecting gravitational waves
LINEAR – (observing program) Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research
LMXB – (celestial object) low-mass x-ray binary, an X-ray-luminous binary star system in which one of the stars is a neutron star or black hole that is stripping material away from the other star in the system
LPI – (organization) Lunar and Planetary Institute
LPL – (organization) Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, the planetary science department of the University of Arizona
LPV – (celestial object) Long Period Variable, a type of variable star that changes in brightness slowly over time
LRG – (celestial object) luminous red galaxy, a dataset of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey that were selected on the basis of their red colors
LSR – (astrophysics terminology) local standard of rest, the frame of reference with a velocity equal to the average velocity of all the stars in the solar neighborhood, including the Sun
LSST – (telescope) Legacy Survey of Space and Time
LST – (astrophysics terminology) local sidereal time, the right ascension that is currently at the zenith
M – (celestial object) Mira, a class of long period pulsating variable stars named after Mira, the archetype for the class
MAC – (observing program) Multi-instrument Aircraft Campaign, a program to study the cometary dust from the Leonidsmeteor showers
MACHO – (celestial object/observing program/catalog) MAssive Compact Halo Object, an object in the Milky Way's halo thought to comprise part of the galaxy's dark matter; also a survey to detect these sources through gravitational lensing and the catalog of sources detected by the survey
MASER – (astrophysics terminology) microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation, microwave emission that is similar to the optical emission from a laser
MECO – (celestial object) magnetospheric eternally collapsing object, a type of object proposed as an alternative to supermassive black holes as the central compact source within active galactic nuclei
MEGARA – (instrumentation) Multi-Espectrógrafo en GTC de Alta Resolución para Astronomía, an instrument on the Gran Telescopio Canarias
MEPAG – (organization) Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group
MEPCO – (meeting) Meeting of European Planetary and Cometary Observers
MOA – (observing program) Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics, a survey searching for gravitational lenses
MOC – (instrumentation) Mars Observer Camera, an instrument on the Mars Observer
MOID – (astrophysics terminology) minimum orbit intersection distance, the minimum distance between two objects' orbital paths
MOLA – (instrumentation) Mars Observer Laser Altimeter, an instrument on the Mars Observer used to study Mars's topology
MOND – (astrophysics terminology) modified Newtonian dynamics
MONS – (telescope) Measuring Oscillations in Nearby Stars, a Danish space telescope that was proposed and designed but not built[6]
MOST – (telescope) Microvariability and Oscillations of STars, a space telescope designed to detect oscillations in the atmospheres of stars and extrasolar planetss in orbit around other stars
MOST – (telescope) Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope, an Australian radio telescope
MOTIF – (telescope) Maui Optical Tracking and Identification Facility
MOXE – (instrumentation) Monitoring X-ray Experiment, an X-ray all-sky monitor designed for the Spectrum-X-Gamma satellite
MPC – (publication) Minor Planet Circulars (also called Minor Planets and Comets)
MPEC – (publication) Minor Planet Electronic Circular
MRI – (astrophysics term) magnetorotational instability, a local instability in the accretion disks which only requires weak magnetic field and dΩ2/dR<0
NESS – (telescope) Near Earth Space Surveillance, a telescope for observing near-Earth asteroids
NESSI – (organization) Near Earth Space Surveillance Initiative, a collaboration planning to use a ground-based telescope to observe near-Earth asteroids
NIRCam – (Instrument), Near-Infrared Camera, an instrument on James Webb Telescope
NIRSpec – (instrument) Near-Infrared Spectrograph, an instrument on James Webb Telerscope
NIST – (organization) National Institute of Standards and Technology
NLAGN – (celestial object) Narrow-Line AGN, classified based on lack of broadened emission or absorption lines in spectra
NLR – (astrophysics term) the Narrow Line Region of the AGN
NLTE – (astrophysics terminology) non-local thermodynamic equilibrium, situations where the temperature, pressure, etc. of a system are not in equilibrium
NLTT – (catalog) New Luyten Two-Tenths, a catalog of stars with high proper motions
NNVS – Nizhny Novgorod, Veränderliche Sterne; a variable star publication of the Nizhny Novgorod Society of Physics and Astronomy Amateurs
NOAA – (organization) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAO – (organization) National Optical Astronomy Observatories
NODO – (telescope) NASA Orbital Debris Observatory, a now-defunct telescope used to observe space junk and other objects
OAO – (observatory) Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, in Japan
OAO – (telescope) Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, a series of satellites with astronomical instruments that operated in the 1970s
OC – (celestial object) open cluster, a cluster of stars
OCA – (organization) Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur
OCO – (celestial object) Oort Cloud Object, an object (usually a comet) in the Oort cloud
OGLE – (observing program/catalog) Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, an observing program to survey the sky for microlensing events; also the catalog of sources produced by the project
BLG – (catalog) BuLGe, used to designate a source detected in the direction of the bulge of the Milky Way
TR – (catalog) TRansit, used to designate a potential observation of a microlensing event caused by a transiting star
OPAG – (organization) Outer Planets Assessment Group, a group established by NASA that provides advice on Solar System exploration
ORFEUS – (telescope) Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer, an ultraviolet space telescope that could be released and later retrieved by the Space Shuttle
OSIRIS-REx – Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer
PCAS – (observing program) Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey
PDBI – (telescope) Plateau de Bure Interferometer, a radio telescope
PDR – a photodissociation region or photon-dominated region (both terms are used synonymously); a region in the neutral ISM in which far-ultraviolet photons dominate the heating and chemistry
PDS – is a distributed data system that NASA uses to archive data collected by Solar System missions.
PEP – (instrumentation) PhotoElectric Photometry, an observing technique using photometers
PEPE – (instrumentation) Plasma Experiment for Planetary Exploration, an instrument on Deep Space 1
POSSUM – Polarisation Sky Survey of the Universe's Magnetism
PPARC – (organization) Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, a major government-sponsored science agency in the United Kingdom, merged into the Science and Technology Facilities Council in 2007
PPM – (catalog) Positions and Proper Motions, a catalog of the positions and proper motions of stars
PPN – (celestial object) proto-planetary nebula, an object that has partially evolved from a red giant to a planetary nebula
PRE – (astrophysics terminology) photospheric radius expansion
PSF – (instrumentation) Point Spread Function, a function that describes the blurring of a point source that is caused by the optics of the telescope and instrument (as well as other effects)
RLOF – (astrophysics terminology) Roche Lobe Overflow, the result of when an object in a binary system is larger than its roche lobe (i.e. when an object in a binary system expands to a radius where tidal forces become stronger than gravitational forces)
RLQ – (celestial object) radio loud quasar, a quasar that produces strong radio emission
ROSAT – (telescope) ROentgen SATellite, an X-ray space telescope
ROTSE – (observing program/telescope) Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment, an observing program for detecting the optical counterparts of gamma ray bursts; also the telescopes used in this program
RQQ – (celestial object) radio-quiet quasara quasar that produces weak radio emission
RRAT – (celestial object) rotating radio transient, a population of rotating neutron stars that produce periodic bursts of emission that are separated by intervals of minutes or hours
RRL – (celestial object) RR Lyrae, a class of pulsating variable stars named after RR Lyrae, the archetype of the class
also RR
RSA – (catalog) Revised Shapley-Ames, a catalog of nearby galaxies
SAAO – (organization) South African Astronomical Observatory
SALT – (telescope) Southern African Large Telescope
SAF – (organization) Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society)
SAM – (astrophysics terminology) Semi-Analytic Modeling, models that draw on numerical and analytical methods to model dark matter evolution in galaxies
SAO – (organization/catalog) Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the name of astrophysics research organization associated with Harvard University; also a catalog of stars
SARA – (organization) Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers
SAS – (software) Science Analysis Software, a software package used for processing data from the XMM-Newton Observatory
SAT – (telescope) synthetic aperture telescope
SAVAL – (organization) Sociedad Astronómica de Valparaíso y Viña del Mar, Chile. Amateur Astronomy. Founded in 1956.
SBIG – (organization/instrumentation) Santa Barbara Instrument Group, the name of both a company that manufactures telescope equipment and the company's products
SBNC – (organization) Small Bodies Names Committee, an older name for the Committee for Small Body Nomenclature
SCP – (observing program) Supernova Cosmology Project, a project to measure the expansion of the universe using supernovae at high redshifts
SCR – (observing program) SuperCOSMOS-RECONS, a survey that measured the proper motions of stars
SCT – (telescope) Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope, a general name for a type of compact telescope that uses both lenses and mirrors
SCUBA – (instrumentation) Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array, a submillimeter imager formerly at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
SCUBA-2 – (instrumentation) Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array 2, a submillimeter imager that will replace SCUBA
sd – (celestial object) subdwarf, stars fainter than main-sequence stars with the same colors; often used as a prefix to a star's spectral type
SHOES-Supernovae, HO, for the Equation of State of Dark energy
SID – (astrophysics terminology) Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance, a disturbance in the Earth's ionosphere caused by the Sun
SIDC – (organization) Sunspot Index Data Center
SIM – (telescope) Space Interferometry Mission, a planned optical space telescope that will be used to measure distances to stars
SIMBAD – (software) Set of Identifications, Measurements, and Bibliography for Astronomical Data, a website that provides catalog data on astronomical objects
SINGG – (observing program) Survey of Ionization in Neutral Gas Galaxies, a survey of star formation in nearby galaxies selected by gas rich galaxies using H-alpha and ultraviolet observations
SIPS – (observing program/catalog) Southern Infrared Proper Motion Survey, a program to identify stars with high proper motions at infrared wavelengths
SIRTF – (telescope) Space InfraRed Telescope Facility or Shuttle InfraRed Telescope Facility, older names for the Spitzer Space Telescope
SNU – (astrophysics terminology) solar neutrino units
SOARD – (software) Steward Observatory Asteroid Relational Database
SOFIA – (telescope) Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, an infrared telescope currently under construction that will fly inside a modified Boeing 747 aircraft
SOHO – (telescope) SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory, a solar space telescope
SONEAR – Southern Observatory for Near Earth Asteroids Research
SPARTAN – (telescope) Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for AstroNomy, an ultraviolet space telescope that can be released and retrieved by the Space Shuttle
SPS – (spacecraft) solar power satellite, a general name for proposed satellites that would convert solar power into energy and then beam the energy to the surface of a planet (such as Earth) in the form of microwaves
SPS – (astrophysical terminology) stellar population synthesis
SST – (telescope) Spitzer Space Telescope, a space telescope
STARSMOG – (observing program) STarlight Absorption Reduction through a Survey of Multiple Occulting Galaxies, a survey using Hubble Space Telescope imaging
SWAN – (instrumentation) Solar Wind ANisotropy, an instrument on SOHO
SWAS – (telescope) Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite, a submillimeter space telescope
SWEEPS – (observing program) – Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search, a survey of a subsection of the plane of the Milky Way performed with the Hubble Space Telescope
TAC – (organization) Time Allocation Committee or Telescope Allocation Committee, a general name for a committee that awards telescope observing time
TAC – (catalog) Twin Astrograph Catalog
TAI – (astrophysics terminology) International Atomic Time
TAMS – (astrophysics terminology) terminal-age main sequence, stars at the point in their lifetimes where they have finished burning hydrogen in their cores
TAROT – (telescope) Télescope à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires
TASS – (observing program) The Amateur Sky Survey
TAU – (spacecraft) Thousand Astronomical Unit, a spacecraft mission proposed in the 1980s that would reach 1000 AU in 50 years
TCB – (astrophysics terminology) Barycentric Coordinate Time
TCG – (astrophysics terminology) Geocentric Coordinate Time
TDB – (astrophysics terminology) Barycentric Dynamical Time
TDRSS – (communications network) Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, an array of satellites used by NASA to communicate with many spacecraft in low Earth orbit
TESS - (spacecraft) Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, NASA: an all-sky survey mission that will discover thousands of exoplanets around nearby bright stars. TESS launched 18 April 2018 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
TEP – (organization) Transits of Extrasolar Planets
TRGB - (celestial object) - Tip of the Red-Giant Branch stars, a primary distance indicator
VLBA – (telescope) Very Long Baseline Array, a radio telescope operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory with antennas spread across the United States
VLBI – (instrumentation) very long baseline interferometry, combining signals from multiple telescopes/radio antennas that are separated by large distances
VLM – (astrophysics terminology) very low mass, objects (usually stars) that have relatively low masses
VLT – (telescope) Very Large Telescope, four 8.2 meter telescopes in Chile that operate either independently as individual telescopes or together as an interferometer
VMO – (software) The Virtual Meteor Observatory is an activity of the International Meteor Organization together with the Research and Scientific Support Department of the European Space Agency to store meteor data from observers all over the world.
WDM – (astrophysics terminology) warm dark matter, any model for structure formation in the universe that characterizes "hot" particles such as neutrinos as dark matter
WDS – (catalog) Washington Double Star, a catalog of double stars
WEBT – (organization) Whole Earth Blazar Telescope, a network of observers across the Earth who work together to perform continuous observations of blazars
WET – (organization) Whole Earth Telescope, a network of astronomers spread across the Earth who work together to perform continuous observations of variable stars
WIMP – (celestial object) Weakly Interacting Massive Particle, a hypothetical subatomic particle that may comprise most of the dark matter in the universe
ZAHB – (celestial object) "zero-age" horizontal branch, horizontal branch stars that have just begun burning helium in their cores and hydrogen in a shell around the cores
ZAMS – (celestial object) zero age main sequence, a star that has just become a main-sequence star (i.e. a star that has begun burning hydrogen in its core)
^Campbell, S. W.; Constantino, T. N.; d'Orazi, V.; Meakin, C.; Stello, D.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, J.; Kuehn, C.; De Silva, G. M.; Arnett, W. D.; Lattanzio, J. C.; MacLean, B. T. (2016). "Towards 21st century stellar models: Star clusters, supercomputing and asteroseismology". Astronomische Nachrichten. 337 (8–9): 788–792. arXiv:1512.04774. Bibcode:2016AN....337..788C. doi:10.1002/asna.201612373. hdl:10150/621500. S2CID118724415.
^Kjeldsen, H.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, J.; Bedding, T.R. (2003). "A Danish space project: MONS - measuring oscillations in nearby stars". Advances in Space Research. 31 (2): 363–370. Bibcode:2003AdSpR..31..363K. doi:10.1016/S0273-1177(02)00627-0.
AAVSO Type List. Information retrieved on 2006-09-10 – 2006-09-11