ABBR,MEANING
21CSLC,21st Century Space Launch Complex
4LGSF,Four-Laser Guide Star Facility
4MOST,4-metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope (Proposed new spectroscopic instrument for VISTA)
4T,Four Telescope (VLTI mode)
A&A,"Journal, Astronomy & Astrophysics"
A&ARv,"Journal, Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics"
AAA,Amateur Astronomers Association of New York
ACD,Amplitude Calibration Device (ALMA)
ACM,"Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors"
ACe,Astaldi Cimolai EIE (Consortium)
ADA,ALMA Department of Administration
ADO,ALMA Director’s Office
ADS,International Italian optics company working on the DSM for the VLT
AEM,ALMA construction consortium
AFNOR,"Association Française de Normalisation"
AFTA,Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets
AGN,Active Galactic Nucleus
AIDA,Astronomical Infrastructure for Data Access
AIP,Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam
AIT,"Assembly, Integration and Test"
AIV,"Assembly, Integration and Verification"
AJ,The Astronomical Journal
ALMA,Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
AMBER,"Astronomical Multi-BEam combineR (VLTI Instrument)"
AN,"Journal, Astronomische Nachrichten"
Antu,VLT Unit Telescope 1
AO,Adaptive Optics
AOF,Adaptive Optics Facility
AOS,"Array Operations Site (ALMA)"
APE,Active Phasing Experiment
APEX,Atacama Pathfinder Experiment
ApJ,Astrophysical Journal
ApJS,"Journal, Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series"
AQUARIUS,"Mid-infrared detector array (VISIR)"
ARAL,Alignment facility for the VLTI
ARC,"ALMA Regional Centre, or Ames Research Center"
ArTeMiS,Bolometric camera for APEX
ASAC,ALMA Science Advisory Committee
ASIAA,"East Asia FEIC (ALMA)"
ASIC,Application Specific Integrated Circuit
ASSIST,Adaptive Secondary Setup and Instrument Simulator (AOF test bench)
AstraLux,"Lucky Imaging camera for the Calar Alto 2.2-metre telescope"
AT,Auxiliary Telescope for the VLTI
ATC,"Astronomy Technology Centre (United Kingdom)"
ATILO,Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organisation
AU,"Astronomical Unit, the distance between the Earth and the Sun"
AUI,Associated Universities Inc.
AVM,Astronomical Visualisation Metadata
AXP,"Anomalous X-Ray Pulsar"
BAM,Construction company for the Headquarters extension
BE,Back-End (ALMA)
BELLA,Building Europe Link to Latin America
BFL,Budget and Forward Look
BH,Black hole
BLAST,Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope
BlackGEM,(La Silla) Telescope array searching for optical counterparts of gravitational wave sources
BLIP,Background photon noise limited
C2PAP,"Computational Center for Particle and Astrophysics, Universe Cluster, Garching"
CADC,Canadian Astronomy Data Centre
CAPj,Communicating Astronomy with the Public Journal
CARLA,Clusters Around Radio-Loud AGN (Spitzer)
CASA,Common Astronomy Software Applications (ALMA)
CBR,cosmic background radiation
CDR,Critical Design Review
CDS,"Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (Strasbourg astronomical Data Center)"
CEA,"Commissariat à L’Energie Atomique, France"
CELAC_EU,"Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States–European Union"
CES,Coude Echelle Spectrometer
CGM,Circumgalactic medium
CHAMP+,Dual channel heterodyne receiver array (APEX)
CLIF,Convolution with Linearized Inverse Filter algorithm for wavefront sensing
CM,center of mass
CMB,Cosmic Microwave Background
CMBR,Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
CME,Coronal Mass Ejection (usually Sun)
CNAM,Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers
CNRS,Centre national de la recherche scientifique
CO,Carbon monoxide
CO,Carried Over budget
COFUND,EU fellowship funding programme
CONDOR,"1.5 THz heterodyne receiver (APEX)"
CONICA,COudé Near-Infrared CAmera (VLT)
CORALIE,Echelle Spectrograph on the 1.2-metre Leonard Euler Swiss telescope
CoRoT,COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits (French Satellite)
COSMOS,HST survey programme
Cou-,Council Document
CP,Calibration Programme
CPI,Consumer Price Index
CRIRES+,Planned upgrade to CRIRES
CRIRES,Cryogenic InfraRed Echelle Spectrometer (VLT)
CSV,Commissioning and Science Verification
CTA,Cherenkov Telescope Array
CTA-S,Cherenkov Telescope Array South
CTAO,Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory
CUBES,Cassegrain U-band Brazilian ESO Spectrograph
CuRe,Fast wavefront reconstruction algorithms for XAO with pyramid WFS
CuReD,Fast wavefront reconstruction algorithms for XAO with pyramid WFS with pre-processing
DC,Direct Current
DDS,Data DistributIOn middleware for SPARTA
DDT,Director’s Discretionary Time
DFG,Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
DFS,(VLT) Data Flow System
DG,Director General
DIG,Deep Imaging Group (Vitacura)
DL,Delay Line (VLTI)
DMO,Data Management and Operations Division
DMS,Dome and Main Structure
DRS,"DRS, formerly Boeing, detector manufacturer"
DSC,Directorate for Science
DSM,Deformable Secondary Mirror
DSO,Department of Science Operations (ALMA)
eAPD,electron Avalanche Photodiode Detector
EASC,European ALMA Support Centre
EC,European Commission
ECRI,European Conference on Research Infrastructures
EFOSC2,ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (v.2)
EIB,European Investment Bank
EIROforum,Organisation consisting of the seven largest scientific European international organisations devoted to fostering mutual activities
ELT,Extremely Large Telescope
EM&P,"Journal, Earth, Moon, and Planets"
EMAC,ELT Management Advisory Committee
EMBL,European Molecular Biology Laboratory (Germany)
EMMI,ESO Multi-Mode Instrument (NTT)
ePOD,education and Public Outreach Department
ERC,European Research Council
ERIS,Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph
ERP,Enterprise Resource Planning (Administration software)
ESAC,European Science Advisory Committee (for ALMA)
ESAC,"European Space Astronomy Centre (ESA, Spain)"
ESC,ELT Subcommittee
ESE,ELT Science and Engineering
ESM,European School Munich
ESO,European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere
ESOF,Euroscience Open Forum
ESON,ESO Science Outreach Network
ESPRESSO,Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet- and Stable Spectroscopic Observations
ESRC,ELT Standing Review Committee
ETF,ELT Technical Facility
EVALSO,Enabling Virtual Access to Latin-american Southern Observatories
EWASS,European Week of Astronomy and Space Science
ExA,"Journal, Experimental Astronomy"
ExTrA,"(La Silla) Exoplanets in Transit and their Atmospheres"
FC,Finance Committee
FDR,Final Design Review
FE IPT,"Front-End Integrated Project Team (ALMA)"
FE,Front End
FEA,Finite Element Analysis
FEED,Front-End Engineering Design (ELT)
FEIC,Front End Integration Centre (ALMA)
FEROS,"Fibre-fed, Extended Range, Échelle Spectrograph (MPG/ESO 2.2-metre)"
FIAT,"Facility (for) Infrared Arrays Testing"
FITS,Flexible Image Transport System
FLAMES,Fibre Large Array Multi Element Spectrograph (VLT)
FORS1,FOcal Reducer/low dispersion Spectrograph (VLT)-1
FORS2,FOcal Reducer/low dispersion Spectrograph (VLT)-2
FOS,Faint Object Spectrograph (HST)
FP,Fabry-Perot
FP6,Sixth EC Framework Programme
FP7,Seventh EC Framework Programme
FWHM,Full Width at Half Maximum
GALACSI,"Ground Atmospheric Layer Adaptive Optics for Spectroscopic Imaging (AOF)"
GIRAFFE,Fibre-fed multi-object spectrograph and part of the VLT FLAMES facility
GLAO,Ground Layer Adaptive Optics
gNLT,Garching Night Log Tool
GRAAL,GRound-layer Adaptive optics Assisted by Lasers (AOF)
GRAVITY,"AO assisted, two-object, multiple-beam-combiner (VLTI)"
GROND,"Gamma-Ray Burst Optical/Near-Infrared Detector (MPG/ESO 2.2-metre)"
GTC,Gran Telescopio Canarias
GTO,Guaranteed Time for Observation
GWh,Gigawatt hours
GÉANT,European multi-gigabit computer network for research and education purposes
H-LTAO,HARMONI Laser Tomography Adaptive Optics
H2020,(EU) Horizon 2020 Programme
HARMONI,Proposed first light integral field spectrograph for the ELT
HARPS,High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planetary Searcher (3.6-metre)
HAWK-I,High Acuity Wide field K-band Imager
HCI,Human Computer Interface
HIA,Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (Canada)
HIRES,(ELT) HIgh REsolution Spectrograph
HODM,High Order Deformable Mirror
HST,Hubble Space Telescope
HVAC,"Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning"
IAG,"Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences (Brazil)"
IAU,International Astronomical Union
Icar,"Icarus, Planetary science journal, Planetary science journal"
IFS,"Integral Field Spectrograph (SPHERE, ELT)"
IFU,Integral Field Unit
INAF,Italian National Institute for Astrophysics
INRIA,Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique
IPAG,Institut de Planetologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble
IPC,"(Chilean) Índice de Precios al Consumidor"
IPP,Max-Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (Germany)
IPSAS,International Public Sector Accounting Standards
IPT,Integrated Product Team (ALMA)
IR,Infrared
IRAM,Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique
IRDIS,"InfraRed Dual-beam Imager and Spectrograph (SPHERE, ELT)"
IRIS,VLTI Infrared Image Sensor
IRLOS,InfraRed Low Order Sensor
IRO,International Relations Office
ISAAC,Infrared Spectrometer And Array Camera (VLT)
ISERD,Israeli inter-ministerial agency for R&D cooperation with Europe
ISM,International Staff Member
ISS,International Space Station
IT,Information Technology
ITAR,International Traffic in Arms Regulations
ITER,International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
IVOA,International Virtual Observatory Alliance
IVSLA,Istituto Veneto di Scienze ed Arti
IYA2009,International Year of Astronomy 2009
JAO,Joint ALMA Observatory
JENAM,Joint European and National Astronomy Meeting
JUICE,JUpiter ICy moons Explorer
JWST,James Webb Space Telescope
k,"kilo/1,000"
KIDS,(VST) Kilo-Degree Survey
KMOS,K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (VLT)
KTS,Klaus Tschira Stiftung
Kueyan,VLT Unit Telescope 2
LABOCA,Large APEX Bolometer CAmera
LAOG,"Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire de Grenoble"
LCS,Local Control System
LEO,Low Earth Orbit
LFC,Laser Frequency Comb
LGS,Laser Guide Star
LGSF,Laser Guide Star Facility
LMC,Large Magellanic Cloud
LMU,Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
LN2,Liquid nitrogen
LOFAR,Low Frequency Array
LOPS,Local Optical Phasing Sensor
LP,Large Programme
LPG,Liquefied Petroleum Gas
LPO,"La Silla ­Paranal Observatory"
LSM,Local Staff Members
LSP,"La Silla ­Paranal Subcommittee"
LTAO,Laser Tomography Adaptive Optics
LVSM,Large Visible Sensor Module
M#,"Mirror #"
M,"million/1,000,000"
MACAO,Multiple Application Curvature Adaptive Optic
MACCON,Motion controller manufacturer
MAD,Multi-conjugate Adaptive optics Demonstrator
MAORY,(ELT) Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics RelaY
mas,milliarcseconds
MASCOT,Mini All-Sky Cloud Observation Tool (Paranal)
MATISSE,Multi AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment (VLTI)
MCAO,Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics
Melipal,VLT Unit Telescope 3
MELT,Minuscule ELT
MENLO systems,Optical equipment manufacturer
MERAC,Mobilising European Research in Astrophysics and Cosmology
MERIL,Mapping the European Research Infrastructure Landscape
METIS,Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph
MICADO,Adaptive optics imaging camera (ELT)
MIDI,Mid-infrared Interferometric Instrument (VLTI)
MIM,"Museo Interactivo Mirador, Santiago"
mmVLBI,Millimeter Very Long Baseline Interferometry
Mn,"Mirror #n"
MNRAS,"Journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society"
MOAO,Multiple-Object Adaptive Optics
MOONS,Multi Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph (VLT third generation)
MOS,(ELT) Multi-Object Spectroscopy
MOSAIC,"(ELT) Multi-Object Spectrograph (Multi-Object Spectrograph for Astrophysics, Intergalactic medium studies and Cosmology)"
MOSFIRE,Near-infrared multi-object spectrograph (Keck)
MPA,Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics
MPE,Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
MPG,Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
MPIA,Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
MPIfR,Max-Planck Institute for Radioastronomy (Germany)
MS,Member State(s)
MTM,"MT Mechatronics (European company of high technology, engineering and maintenance services)"
MUSE,Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (VLT)
NACO,NAOS-CONICA (VLT)
NAOJ,National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
NAOMI,Adaptive optics system for the ATs (VLTI)
NAOS,Nasmyth Adaptive Optics System (VLT)
NASA,National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NAV,Navision
NDF,Non-Deliverable Forward Agreement
NEAR,New Earths in the Alpha Cen Region experiment
NEO,Near-Earth Object
NewA,"Journal, New Astronomy"
NewAR,"Journal, New Astronomy Reviews"
NFM,Narrow Field Mode
NGC,New General Catalogue
NGC,New General detector Controller
NGSD,"Proposed large natural/laser guide star WFS detector (ELT)"
NGTS,Next Generation Transit Survey
NINS,National Institutes of Natural Sciences
NIRPS,(NNT) Near Infra Red Planet Searcher
NOVA,The Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (Nederlandse Onderzoekschool voor Astronomie)
NRAO,National Radio Astronomy Observatory
NSF,National Science Foundation
NTT,New Technology Telescope
NUVA,Network for UltraViolet Astrophysics
OAA,Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory
OBAMA,Optical Bidule for Aberration Measurement on the ATs
OCA-NICE,Cote d’Azur Observatory (Observatoire de la Cote d’Azur)
ODG,Office of the Director General
OECD,Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OmegaCAM,Optical Camera for the VST
OPC,Observing Programmes Committee
OPO,Observing Programmes Office
OPTICON,Optical Infrared Coordination Network for Astronomy
OSF,ALMA Operations Support Facilities
OSO,Onsala Space Observatory
OT,Observing Tool
OTS,Operations Technical Support
P&SS,"Journal, Planetary and Space Science"
P2PP,Peer to Peer Protocol
P86,Observing Period 86
P87,Observing Period 87
PA,Product Assurance
PAC,Provisional Acceptance Chile
PACMAN,Fringe tracker for PRIMA (VLTI)
PAE,Provisional Acceptance Europe
PARLA,"PAranal Raman Laser, replacement for PARSEC (VLTI)"
PARSEC,Sodium line laser for VLT AO
PASJ,"Journal, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan"
PASP,"Journal, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific"
PDR,Preliminary Design Review
PESSTO,Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects
PFS,(ELT) Pre-Focal Station
PFS-A,"(ELT) Pre-Focal Station for Nasmyth A"
PhD,Doctor of Philosophy
PI,Principal Investigator
PIO,Public Information Officer
PIONIER,VLTI visitor instrument
PIP,Paranal Instrumentation Programme
PLC,Programmable Logic Controllers (ELT)
PMD,Project Management Department
PMPD,Performance Management and Professional Development
PRIMA,Phase-Referenced Imaging and Micro-arcsecond Astrometry facility (VLTI)
PSF,Point Spread Function
PTP,Precision Time Protocol
Q,Quarter
QSO,"Quasi Stellar Object, quasar"
QUEST,QUasar Equatorial Survey Team
R&D,Research and Development
RAB,Reflector Assembly Building
RAL,"Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot (UK)"
RCL,Radioastronomy Chajnantor Limitada
RedCLARA,Latin American Advanced Networks Cooperation (Academic data network in Latin America)
REM,Rapid Eye Mount Telescope (La Silla)
REUNA,Red Universitaria Nacional (Academic data network in Chile)
RM,Rossiter-McClaughlin (effect)
RMN,Reflective Memory Network (VLTI)
rms,Root Mean Square
SABOCA,Shortwave Apex BOlometer Camera
SAC,EURO-VO Science Advisory Committee
SAF,Science Archive Facility
SAFRAN-REOSC,High performance optics company
SAPHIRA,Detector for the GRAVITY wavefront sensor
SAXO,SPHERE’S AO system (VLT)
SCAO,Single-conjugate adaptive optics
SCO,Santiago Central Office (ALMA/ESO Vitacura)
SDD,Software Development Division
SDSS,Sloan Digital Sky Survey
SEPIA,Swedish ESO PI receiver for APEX
SHFI,Swedish Heterodyne Facility Instrument
SiC,(ELT) SiliconCarbide-mirrorsubstrate
SINFONI,Spectrograph for INtegral Field Observations in the Near Infrared (VLT)
SKA,Square Kilometer Array
SM,Service Mode (observing)
SM4,Servicing Mission 4 (HST)
SMBH,Supermassive black hole
SOFI,SOn oF Isaac (NTT)
SOPHIE,Spectrographe pour l’Observation des Phénomènes des Intérieurs stellaires et des Exoplanètes
SOXS,(NTT) Son Of X-Shooter
SPARTA,Real-time computer for the AOF
SPC,Scientific Personnel Committee
SPECULOOS,(Paranal) Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars
SPHERE,Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research instrument (VLT)
SPIFFI,SPectrometer for Infrared Faint Field Imaging
SPT,South Pole Telescope
SSDF,Science Support Discretionary Fund
SSED,Software System Engineering Department
SSWG,Science Strategy Working Group
ST-ECF,Space Telescope European Coordination Facility
STC,Scientific Technical Committee
STFC,Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK)
STRAP,Tip-tilt sensors (VLTI)
STScI,Space Telescope Science Institute (USA)
sub-mm,submillimetre
SUSI2,Superb Seeing Imager 2 (NTT)
TAROT,Télescope à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires
TAROT-S,Télescopes à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires South
TBT,Test-Bed Telescope
TEC,Technology Division
telbib,ESO library telescope bibliography database
TFB,Tunable Filter Bank (ALMA)
TIMMI,TIMMI far-infrared camera (ESO 3.6-metre telescope)
ToO,Target of Opportunity
TRAPPIST,TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope
TRR,Test Readiness Review
UC,Users Committee
UK ATC,UK Astronomy Technology Centre
Ultracam,High-speed camera (VLT)
UltraVISTA,Ultra-deep near-infrared survey in the COSMOS field
UNCOPUOS,United Nations Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
USM,University Observatory Munich
UT,Unit Telescope of the VLT
UT1–4,"VLT Unit Telescopes 1–4: Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun"
UV,UltraViolet
UVES,UV-Visual Echelle Spectrograph (VLT)
VERTEX,"(APEX) VERTEX Antennentechnik GmbH, Duisburg (Germany)"
VHS,VISTA Hemisphere Survey
VIDEO,VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations Survey
VIKING,VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy survey
VIMOS,VIsible MultiObject Spectrograph (VLT)
VINCI,VLT INterferometer Commissioning Instrument (VLTI)
VIPERS,VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey
VIRCAM,VISTA Infrared Camera
VISA,VLTI Sub-Array
VISIR,VLT Mid-Infrared Imager Spectrometer
VISTA,Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy
VLT,Very Large Telescope
VLT/I,Very Large Telescope and its Interferometer
VLTI,Very Large Telescope Interferometer
VLTI-PR#,VLTI projects
VM,Visitor Mode (observing)
VMC,VISTA survey of the Magellanic Cloud system
VO,Virtual Observatory
VOP,Virtual Observatory Project Office
VPHAS+,"VST Photometric Hα Survey"
VSS,Variability Sky Survey
VST,VLT Survey Telescope
VVDS,VIMOS VLT Deep Survey
VVV,ESO public survey VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea
WASP,Wide Angle Search for Planets survey
WFCAM,Infrared wide field camera for the UK Infrared Telescope on Mauna Kea
WFI,"Wide Field Imager (MPG/ESO 2.2-metre)"
WiFi,Wireless Fidelity
WVR,Water Vapour Radiometer (ALMA)
X-shooter,Wideband ultraviolet-infrared single target spectrograph (VLT)
XAO,Extreme adaptive optics
XMM-Newton,X-ray Multi-Mirror satellite (ESA)
Yepun,VLT Unit Telescope 4
Z-Spec,Millimetre-wave spectrograph (APEX visitor instrument)
zCOSMOS,Large Programme to measure 30 000 galaxies in the HST Cosmic Origins field
ZIMPOL,"Zurich Imaging Polarimeter (SPHERE, ELT)"
ΛCDM,Lambda Cold Dark Matter
μm,Micrometre