List of Astronomy Acronyms - P

P

  • P60 – (telescope) Palomar 60-inch telescope
  • PA – (astrophysics terminology) Position Angle
  • PAH – (astrophysics terminology) Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon
  • PAMELA – (telescope) Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics, a space telescope used to study cosmic rays
  • Pan-STARRS – (telescope) Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System
  • PASJ – (publication) Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
  • PASP – (publication) Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
  • PCA – (instrumentation) Proportional Counter Array, an X-ray detector on the Rossi X-ray Timing 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
  • PEP – (instrumentation) PhotoElectric Photometry, an observing technique using photometers
  • PEPE – (instrumentation) Plasma Experiment for Planetary Exploration, an instrument on Deep Space 1
  • PHA – (celestial object) Potentially Hazardous Asteroid
  • PI – (person) Principal Investigator, the person who leads a scientific project
  • PK – (catalog) Perek-Kohoutek, a catalog of planetary nebulae
  • Planemo – (celestial object) Planetary Mass Object
  • PLANET – (observing program) Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork, a program to search for microlensing events
  • PLS – (observing program) Palomar-Leiden Survey, a program to search for asteroids
  • PMPS – (observing program) Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey
  • PMS – (celestial object) Pre–Main Sequence, young stars that are still in the process of formation
    • also pre-MS
  • PMT – (instrumentation) PhotoMultiplier Tube
  • P-L – a set of asteroid discoveries in the 1960s
  • PN – (celestial object) Planetary Nebula
    • also PNe (plural form of Planetary Nebula)
  • PNG – (catalog) Galactic Planetary Nebula
  • PNLF – (astrophysics terminology) Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function, the density of planetary nebulae as a function of their luminosity
  • PNN – (celestial object) Planetary Nebula Nucleus, the central star in a planetary nebula
  • PNNV – (celestial object) Planetary Nebula Nucleus Variable, a variable star in the center of a planetary nebula
  • POSS – (observing program) Palomar Observatory Sky Survey
  • 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
  • Proplyd – (celestial object) Protoplanetary Disk
  • PSC – (catalog) Point Source Catalog, a catalog of point-like infrared sources detected with the Infrared Astronomy Satellite
  • 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)
  • PSI – (organization) Planetary Science Institute
  • PSR – (celestial object) Pulsar
  • PVO – (spacecraft) Pioneer Venus Orbiter
  • PVTEL – (celestial object) PV TELescopii, a class of pulsating variable stars named after PV Telescopii, the archetype for the class
  • PWD – (celestial object) Pre-White Dwarf, a star that no longer creates energy through fusion that will eventually evolve into a white dwarf
  • PWN – (celestial object) Pulsar Wind Nebula
  • PZT – (telescope) Photographic Zenith Tube, a general name for any telescope designed to observe objects passing at the zenith

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