CYMK
Cyan, yellow, magenta, black: A colour scheme for colour printing
Dec
Declination: The vertical location of an object on the celestial sphere
DSS
Deep Sky Stacker: An application for stacking frames
DSS
Digital Sky Survey: A catalogue made from digitised optical Schmidt
plates
E-ELT
European Extremely Large Telescope: A 39 m diameter telescope
currently under construction in Chile
ESA
European Space Agency: The European Space body
FFT
Fast Fourier transform: A mathematical process used to apply a Fourier
transform
FITS
Flexible Image Transport System: The standard format for astronomical images
FOV
Field of view: The angular diameter of the area of the sky that can be
seen by a telescope
FWHM
Full width half maximum. The width of a curve measured form half its
maximum value. In photometry, this is related to the seeing
GMT
Greenwich Mean Time: The current time for an observer on the
Greenwich meridian line, without adjustments for daylight saving
GPS
Global Positioning System: A satellite positioning system operated by
the US government
GSC
Hubble Guide Star Catalogue. A large catalogue of bright stars used
for the point of the Hubble Space Telescope
GVCS
General Catalogue of Variable Stars: A catalogue of variable stars
HD
Henry Draper Catalogue: A stellar catalogue
HDC
Henry Draper Catalogue: An HD supplement
HDEC
Henry Draper Catalogue: An HD supplement
HI
Hydrogen 1: Monatomic hydrogen
HII
Hydrogen 2: Ionised hydrogen
HR
Hertzsprung–Russell: As in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram
HST
Hubble Space Telescope: The first large space-borne optical telescope
IAU
International Astronomical Union: The international governing body
for astronomy
IC
Index Catalogues: A supplement to the NGC
IFU
Integrated field unit: A device that allows whole-field spectrography
IRPC
Infrared Processing Centre: NASA science center tasked for data
processing, analysis, and archiving of NASA’s infrared data
IRSA
Infrared Science Archive: An online database integrating various
infrared astronomical catalogues
ISO
Infrared Space Observatory: A space-borne infrared telescope
Kpc
Kiloparsec: 1000 parsecs
xvi
Acronyms
Cyan, yellow, magenta, black: A colour scheme for colour printing
Dec
Declination: The vertical location of an object on the celestial sphere
DSS
Deep Sky Stacker: An application for stacking frames
DSS
Digital Sky Survey: A catalogue made from digitised optical Schmidt
plates
E-ELT
European Extremely Large Telescope: A 39 m diameter telescope
currently under construction in Chile
ESA
European Space Agency: The European Space body
FFT
Fast Fourier transform: A mathematical process used to apply a Fourier
transform
FITS
Flexible Image Transport System: The standard format for astronomical images
FOV
Field of view: The angular diameter of the area of the sky that can be
seen by a telescope
FWHM
Full width half maximum. The width of a curve measured form half its
maximum value. In photometry, this is related to the seeing
GMT
Greenwich Mean Time: The current time for an observer on the
Greenwich meridian line, without adjustments for daylight saving
GPS
Global Positioning System: A satellite positioning system operated by
the US government
GSC
Hubble Guide Star Catalogue. A large catalogue of bright stars used
for the point of the Hubble Space Telescope
GVCS
General Catalogue of Variable Stars: A catalogue of variable stars
HD
Henry Draper Catalogue: A stellar catalogue
HDC
Henry Draper Catalogue: An HD supplement
HDEC
Henry Draper Catalogue: An HD supplement
HI
Hydrogen 1: Monatomic hydrogen
HII
Hydrogen 2: Ionised hydrogen
HR
Hertzsprung–Russell: As in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram
HST
Hubble Space Telescope: The first large space-borne optical telescope
IAU
International Astronomical Union: The international governing body
for astronomy
IC
Index Catalogues: A supplement to the NGC
IFU
Integrated field unit: A device that allows whole-field spectrography
IRPC
Infrared Processing Centre: NASA science center tasked for data
processing, analysis, and archiving of NASA’s infrared data
IRSA
Infrared Science Archive: An online database integrating various
infrared astronomical catalogues
ISO
Infrared Space Observatory: A space-borne infrared telescope
Kpc
Kiloparsec: 1000 parsecs
xvi
Acronyms