List of Astronomy Acronyms - A

A

• A&A – (publication) Astronomy & Astrophysics, a European scientific journal
• AAA – (organization) Amateur Astronomers Association of New York
• AAO – (organization) Australian Astronomical Observatory (prior to 1 July 2010: Anglo-Australian Observatory)
• AAS – (organization) American Astronomical Society
• AAT – (telescope) Anglo-Australian Telescope
• AAVSO – (organization) American Association of Variable Star Observers
• ABBA – ADC Backend For Bolometer Array
• ABRIXAS – (observing program) A BRoadband Imaging X-ray All-sky Survey
• AC – (catalog) Catalogue Astrographique
• ACE – (spacecraft) Advanced Composition Explorer
• ACIS – (instrumentation) Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer, an instrument on the Chandra X-Ray Observatory
• ACM – (meeting) Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors
• ACP – (instrumentation) – Aerosol Collector and Pyrolyser, an instrument on the Huygens probe
• ACS – (instrumentation) Advanced Camera for Surveys, an instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope
• ACV – (celestial object) Alpha Canes Venatici, a class of rotating variable stars with strong magnetic fields named after Alpha Canum Venaticorum (Cor Caroli), the archetype for the class
• ACYG – (celestial object) Alpha CYGni, a class of rotating variable stars named after Alpha Cygni (Deneb), the archetype for the class
• ADAF – (astrophysics terminology) Advection Dominated Accretion Flow, a mechanism by which matter is slowly accreted onto a black hole
• ADC – (organization) Astronomical Data Center
• ADEC – (organization) Astrophysics Data Centers Executive Council, an organization that provides oversight for the Astrophysics Data and Information Services
• ADF – (organization) Astrophysics Data Facility
• ADS – (catalog) Aitken Double Stars
• ADIS – (organization) Astrophysics Data and Information Services
• ADS – (organization) Astrophysics Data Service, an organization that maintains an online database of scientific articles
• AFGL – (organization) Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, a research laboratory now part of the United States Air Force Research Laboratory
• AFOEV – (organization) Association française des observateurs d'étoiles variables
• AG – (organization) Astronomische Gesellschaft
• AGAPE – (observing program) Andromeda Galaxy and Amplified Pixels Experiment, a search for microlenses in front of the Andromeda Galaxy
• AGB – (celestial object) Asymptotic Giant Branch, a type of red giant star
• AGK – (catalog) Astronomische Gesellschaft Katalog
• AGN – (celestial object) Active Galactic Nucleus
• AGU – (organization) American Geophysical Union
• AIM – (spacecraft) Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, a spacecraft that will study the Noctilucent clouds
• AIPS – (software) Astronomical Image Processing System
• AJ – (publication) Astronomical Journal
• ALaMO – (organization) Automated Lunar and Meteor Observatory
• ALEXIS – (instrumentation) Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors
• ALMA – (telescope) Atacama Large Millimeter/Sub-millimeter Array
• ALPO – (organization) Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers
• AMANDA – (telescope) Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array, a neutrino telescope
• AMASE – (software) Astrophysics Multi-spectral Archive Search Engine
• AMS – (organization) American Meteor Society
• AN – (publication) Astronomische Nachrichten, a German scientific journal
• ANS – (telescope) Astronomical Netherlands Satellite
• ANS – (organization) Astro News Service
• ANSI – (organization) American National Standards Institute
• AO – (instrumentation) Adaptive Optics
• AOR – (instrumentation) Astronomical Observation Request
• ApJ – (publication) Astrophysical Journal
  • ApJL – (publication) Astrophysical Journal Letters
  • 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
• APO – (organization) Apache Point Observatory
• APOD – (data) Astronomy Picture of the Day
• APT – (telescope) Automated Patrol Telescope
• ARC – (organization) Ames Research Center
• ARC – (organization) Astrophysical Research Consortium
• ASA – (organization) Astronomical Society of the Atlantic
• ASI – (organization) Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
• ASIAA – (organization) Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics
• 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
• ATM – (person) hobbyist engaged in Amateur telescope making (may also refer to the book of the same title, Amateur Telescope Making)
• AU – (measurement) Astronomical Unit, the distance between the Earth and the Sun
• AUASS – (organization) Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences
• AURA – (organization) Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
• AWCA – (meeting) American Workshop on Cometary Astronomy, an older name for the International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy
• AXP – (celestial object) Anomalous X-Ray Pulsar
• AXAF – (telescope) Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, an older name for the Chandra X-ray Observatory