Abbreviations

A quick-reference list of the abbreviations, acronyms, symbols and shorthand you will meet in astronomy, visual observing and astrophotography.
Jump to a letter

ACH

Achromatic / Achromat

ADC

Analog-to-Digital Converter

ADC

Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector

ADU

Analog-to-Digital Unit

AF

Autofocus

AFOV

Apparent Field of View

ALT-AZ

Altitude-Azimuth

AP

Astrophotography

APO

Apochromatic / Apochromat

APP

Astro Pixel Processor

APS-C

Advanced Photo System type-C

ASCOM

Astronomy Common Object Model

ASTAP

Astrometric STAcking Program

AU

Astronomical Unit

CCD

Charge-Coupled Device

CLS

City Light Suppression

CMOS

Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

DOB

Dobsonian

DSLR

Digital Single-Lens Reflex

EAA

Electronically Assisted Astronomy

EAF

Electronic Automatic Focuser

EFW

Electronic Filter Wheel

EP

Eyepiece

FITS

Flexible Image Transport System

FPN

Fixed Pattern Noise

FPS

Frames Per Second

FWHM

Full Width at Half Maximum

GEM

German Equatorial Mount

GoTo

GoTo
Computer-controlled pointing and object locating

HFR

Half-Flux Radius

HII / H II

Ionised Hydrogen

Hα / Ha

Hydrogen-alpha

IC

Index Catalogue

IFN

Integrated Flux Nebula

INDI

Instrument Neutral Distributed Interface
Open-source framework for controlling astronomy equipment

IR

Infrared

L

Luminance

LED

Light-Emitting Diode

LPR

Light-Pollution Reduction

LRGB

Luminance, Red, Green, Blue

LST

Local Sidereal Time

M

Messier

MAK

Maksutov

MCT

Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope

Mono

Monochrome

NCP

North Celestial Pole

NGC

New General Catalogue

NINA

N.I.N.A.
Astrophotography control and automation software

NR

Noise Reduction

O-III / OIII

Oxygen-III

OSC

One-Shot Colour

OTA

Optical Tube Assembly

PE

Periodic Error

PEC

Periodic Error Correction

PHD2

Point Here Dummy 2
Guiding software for astrophotography

PI

PixInsight

PIPP

Planetary Imaging Pre-Processor

PSF

Point Spread Function

RAW

Raw Image Data

RC

Ritchey-Chrétien

RGB

Red, Green, Blue

ROI

Region of Interest

S-II

Sulphur

SCP

South Celestial Pole

SCT

Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope

SER

SER video format

SHO

S-II, H-alpha, O-III

SNR

Signal-to-Noise Ratio

SQM

Sky Quality Meter

ST-4

ST-4 Autoguider Interface

TDI

Time Delay Integration

UHC

Ultra High Contrast

UT

Universal Time

UV

Ultraviolet

WL

White Light
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