The present list contains the most common acronyms used by ESO, but does not pretend to be complete. A separate Glossary of Astronomical terms is also available.
| 4LGSF | Four-Laser Guide Star Facility |
| A&A | Journal Astronomy & Astrophysics |
| AAAS | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| AAS | American Astronomical Society |
| ACD | Amplitude Calibration Device |
| ACS | ALMA Common Software |
| ACS | Advanced Camera for Surveys (Hubble) |
| ADD | Administration Division |
| ADE | Archive Department |
| Admin | Administration Division |
| ADP | Advanced Data Products |
| ADS | Astrophysics Data System |
| AEM | (ALMA) Alenio Aerospace - European Industrial Engineering (EIE) - MT Aerospace (antenna consortium) |
| AGB | Asymptotic Giant Branch |
| AGN | Active Galactic Nucleus |
| AIDA | Astronomical Infrastructure for Data Access |
| AIV | Assembly, Integration and Verification |
| ALMA | Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array |
| Alto | 2.2-metre telescope |
| AMBER | Astronomical Multi-BEam combineR (VLTI Instrument) |
| AMOS | AMOS Electronics Corporation |
| Antu | VLT Unit Telescope 1 |
| AO | Adaptive Optics |
| AoD | Astronomer on Duty |
| AOF | (VLT) Adaptive Optics Facility |
| AOS | Array Operations Site (ALMA) |
| APE | (E-ELT) Active Phasing Experiment |
| APEX | Atacama Pathfinder Experiment |
| APLF | Association of French-speaking Planetariums |
| AQUARIUS | Mid-infrared array |
| ARC | ALMA Regional Centre |
| ASAC | ALMA Science Advisory Committee |
| ASSIST | Adaptive Secondary Setup and Instrument Simulator |
| AstraLux | Lucky Imaging camera for the Calar |
| Astronet | (EC) Network for Astronomy |
| ASTRONET | Astronomy ERA-NET |
| AT | Auxiliary Telescope for the VLTI |
| ATF | Antenna Test Facility (ALMA) |
| AUI | Associated Universities Inc. (NRAO) |
| aXeSIM | Slitless spectroscopy data extraction software |
| BAL | Broad Absorption Line |
| BE | Back End |
| BFL | Budget and Forward Look (document) |
| BUS | Back-Up Structure (ALMA) |
| CAD | Computer Aided Design |
| CADC | Canadian Astronomy Data Centre |
| CAPj | Journal "Communicating Astronomy with the Public" |
| CASA | Offline data reduction system (ALMA) |
| CASU | Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit |
| CCD | Charge Coupled Device |
| CDR | Critical Design Review |
| CERN | European Organization for Nuclear Research |
| CFRP | Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic |
| CfT | Call for Tender |
| CLP | Chilean Peso |
| CMMS | Computerised Maintenance Management System (ALMA) |
| CMS | Content Management System |
| Co-I | Co-Investigator |
| CODEX | High stability high resolution optical spectrograph (E-ELT) |
| COFUND | FP7 Marie Curie Initiative |
| CONAMA | Chilean Environmental Agency |
| CONICA | COudé Near-Infrared CAmera (VLT) |
| CONICYT | Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica |
| COS | Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (HST) |
| Cou- | Council Document |
| CP | Calibration Programme |
| CRIRES | Cryogenic InfraRed Echelle Spectrometer (VLT) |
| CV | Cataclysmic Variable |
| CW | Continuous Wave |
| DASA | Dirección de Aeródromos y Servicios Aeronáuticos (Chile) |
| DAZLE | (VLT) Dark Age Z(redshift) Lyman-alpha Explorer - visitor instrument |
| DCA | Euro-VO Data Centre Alliance |
| DDL | (VLTI) Differential Delay Lines |
| DDL-PAOS | Consortium (Geneva Observatory, Heidelberg Observatory and Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg) developing DDLs for PRIMA |
| DFO | Data Flow Operations |
| DFS | Data Flow System |
| DGAC | Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil (Chile) |
| DGCK | Digitiser Clock Assemblies (ALMA) |
| DGP | DGP gravity is a braneworld model proposed by Dvali, Gabadadze and Porrati in 2000 |
| DIPSI | Diffraction Image Phase Sensing Instrument |
| DIV | Division |
| DMO | Data Management and Operations Division |
| DOORS | Requirement management software |
| DPD | Data Products Department |
| DR1/2 | Data Release 1/2 (Hubble Legacy Archive) |
| DRM | Design Reference Mission (E-ELT) |
| DRSP | Design Reference Science Plan (E-ELT & ALMA) |
| DSM | Deformable Secondary Mirror (AOF) |
| DTS | Data Transmission System (ALMA) |
| E-ELT | European Extremely Large Telescope |
| e-MERLIN | Major project to upgrade the MERLIN array of radio telescopes |
| E2V | Electronics manufacturer |
| EAAE | European Association for Astronomy Education |
| EAGLE | Multi-object NIR spectrograph (E-ELT) |
| EC | European Community |
| EC | European Commission |
| EDFA | Erbium doped fibre amplifier |
| EFOSC | (La Silla) ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera |
| EFOSC2 | ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (v.2) |
| EIROforum | Organisation consisting of the seven largest scientific European international organisations devoted to fostering mutual activities |
| ELT | Extremely Large Telescope (generic) |
| ELT-DS | (EC) FP7 ELT Design Study |
| EMMI | (La Silla) ESO Multi-Mode Instrument |
| EPICS | Planet imager and spectrograph (E-ELT) |
| EPO | Education and Public Outreach |
| ePOD | education and Public Outreach Department |
| ERA-NET | EU scheme to step up the cooperation and coordination of research activities carried out at national or regional level in the Member States and Associated States |
| ERP | Enterprise Resource Planning |
| ESA | European Space Agency |
| ESAC | European Science Advisory Committee (for ALMA) |
| ESE | (E-ELT) Science and Engineering working group |
| ESFRI | European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures |
| ESO | European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere |
| ESOF | Euroscience Open Forum |
| ESPRESSO | Echelle SPectrograph for Radial vElocity Super Stable Observations |
| ESRC | E-ELT Standing Review Committee |
| EST | ESO Survey Team |
| EU | European Union |
| EU FEIC | European Front-End Integration Centre (ALMA) |
| EUCLID | ESA dark energy mission |
| EUCYS | EU Contest for Young Scientists |
| EURO-VO | European Virtual Observatory |
| EVLA | Expanded Very Large Array |
| FC | ESO Finance Committee |
| FDR | Final Design Review |
| FE | (ALMA) Front End |
| FEED | Front-End Engineering Design (E-ELT) |
| FEIC | Front-End Integration Centres (ALMA) |
| FEROS | (La Silla) Fibre-fed Extended Range Optical Spectrograph |
| FIERA | CCD controller (VLT,optical) |
| FINITO | Fringe Tracking Instrument Nice Torino(VLTI) |
| FITS | Flexible Image Transport System |
| FLAMES | Fibre Large Array Multi Element Spectrograph (VLT) |
| FO | (ALMA) Fibre Optics |
| FOAD | Fibre Optic Amplifier/Demultiplexer (ALMA) |
| FORS | FOcal Reducer/low dispersion Spectrograph (VLT) |
| FORS1 | FOcal Reducer/low dispersion Spectrograph (VLT)-1 |
| FORS2 | FOcal Reducer/low dispersion Spectrograph (VLT)-2 |
| FP | (EC) Framework Programmes (currently 6th and 7th) |
| FP6 | ELT-DS Sixth EC Framework Programme ELT Design Study |
| FP7 | Seventh EC Framework Programme |
| FSU | (VLTI) Fringe Sensor Unit |
| FTE | Full-Time Equivalent |
| GaBoDs | Garching-Bonn Deep Survey |
| Gaia | Astrometric satellite (ESA) |
| GALACSI | Ground Atmospheric Layer Adaptive Optics for Spectroscopic Imaging |
| Gemini | International 8m telescope project |
| GHz | Gigahertz |
| GIRAFFE | (VLT) FLAMES Intermediate Resolution Spectrometer |
| GLAO | Ground Layer Adaptive Optics |
| GmbH | Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (type of German Company) |
| GOODS | Great Observatories Optical Deep Survey |
| GRAAL | (VLT) GRound layer Adaptive optics Assisted by Lasers (HAWK-I AO system) |
| GRAVITY | (VLTI) Adaptive Optics, near-infrared 2nd generation instrument |
| GRB | Gamma-Ray Burst |
| GROND | (La Silla) Gamma-Ray burst Optical and Near-infrared Detector |
| GTC | Gran Telescopio Canarias |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface |
| HARMONI | Single Field, Wide Band Spectrograph (E-ELT) |
| HARPS | High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planetary Searcher (3.6-metre) |
| HAWK-I | High Acuity Wide field K-band Imager (VLT) |
| HD | High Definition |
| HLA | Hubble Legacy Archive |
| HOT | High Order Testbench |
| HQ | Head Quarters |
| HR | Human Resources Division |
| HRUSS | (VLT) High-Resolution Ultra-Stable Spectrograph |
| HST | Hubble Space Telescope |
| IAC | Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias |
| IAU | International Astronomical Union |
| ICD | Interface Control Document (ALMA) |
| IFG | Fast guiding controller (AMBER/VLTI) |
| IFU | Integral Field Unit (spectroscopic instrument) |
| IMPRS | International Max-Planck Research School |
| INAF | L'Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica |
| INS | Instrumentation Division |
| IPC | (Chilean) Indice de Precios de Consumidor |
| IPP | (Max-Planck) Institut für Plasma Physik |
| IPS | Intrusion Prevention System |
| IPSAS | International Public Sector Accounting Standards |
| IPT | Integrated Product Team (ALMA) |
| IQ | Server system |
| IQuEye | Italian Quantum Eye |
| IR | near-, mid-,"Infrared (1-5 mm), near-Infrared (1-2.5 mm), mid-Infrared (8-25 mm)" |
| IRACE | InfraRed detector high speed Array Control and processing Electronics |
| IRAM | Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique |
| IRIS | (VLTI) InfraRed Image Sensor |
| IRO | International Relations Office |
| ISAAC | Infrared Spectrometer And Array Camera (VLT) |
| ISM | International Staff Member |
| ISM | InterStellar Medium |
| IT | Information Technology |
| ITF | (VLTI) Interferometer Task Force |
| ITUG | IT User Group |
| IVOA | International Virtual Observatory Alliance |
| IYA09 | (United Nations) International Year of Astronomy (2009) |
| IYA2009 | International Year of Astronomy 2009 |
| JAAB | Joint Advisory Appeals Board |
| JAO | Joint ALMA Observatory |
| JENAM | Joint European and National Astronomy Meeting |
| JRA | (OPTICON) Joint Research Activity |
| KIS-VTT | Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik Vacuum Tower Telescope (Canaries) |
| KMOS | K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (VLT) |
| KO | Kick Off |
| KONUS | Gamma-ray detector on WIND satellite |
| Kueyen | VLT Unit Telescope 2 |
| LABOCA | Large APEX Bolometer CAmera |
| LAM | Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille |
| LAOG | Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire de Grenoble |
| LBO | Lithium Triborate LiB3O5, nonlinear optical crystal |
| LFC | Laser Frequency Combs |
| LGS | (VLT) Laser Guide Star |
| LGSF | (VLT) Laser Guide Star Facility |
| LINER | Low-ionisation nuclear emission-line region galaxy |
| LMC | Large Magellanic Cloud |
| LP | Large Programme |
| LPG | Liquefied Propane Gas |
| LPO | La Silla Paranal Observatory |
| LS2010+ | La Silla plan for 2010 and beyond |
| LSM | Local Staff Member |
| LSP | La Silla Paranal Observatory |
| LSP | La Silla Paranal Committee |
| LTAO | Laser Tomography Adaptive Optics |
| M&R | Maintenance and Repair |
| M4 | Mirror #4 in E-ELT AO unit |
| M5 | Mirror #5 in E-ELT AO unit |
| MACAO | Multi-Application Curvature Adaptive Optics (VLT/VLTI) |
| MAD | Multi-conjugate Adaptive optics Demonstrator |
| MARCEL | PRIMA calibration source |
| MATISSE | Multi AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment (VLTI) |
| MCAO | Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics |
| Melipal | VLT Unit Telescope 3 |
| METIS | Mid-infrared imager-spectrograph (E-ELT) |
| MFPG | Multi-Fuel Power Generator |
| MICADO | Diffraction-limited camera (E-ELT) |
| MIDI | Mid-Infrared Interferometric Instrument (VLTI) |
| MIMO | Multiple Input/ Multiple Output |
| MOS | Multiple Object Spectrograph |
| MoU | Memorandum of Understading |
| MPE | Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (Germany) |
| MPG | Max-Planck Gesellschaft |
| MPIA | Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (Germany) |
| MPIfR | Max-Planck-Institute for Radioastronomy (Germany) |
| MPQ | Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik |
| MRIP | Mid-Range Implementation Plan |
| MUSE | Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (VLT) |
| MUX | Multiplexer (ALMA) |
| MVM | Multi-resolution Vision Model (Archive) |
| Na | (chemical element) sodium |
| NACO | NAOS-CONICA (VLT) |
| NAOJ | National Astronomical Observatory of Japan |
| NAOS | Nasmyth Adaptive Optics System (VLT) |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NEON | Network of European Observatories in the North |
| NGC | New General detector Controller |
| NICMOS | Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (Hubble) |
| NIR | Near-InfraRed |
| NOVA | Dutch Research School for Astronomy (Nederlandse Onderzoekschool voor Astronomie) |
| NRAO | (United States) National Radio Astronomy Observatory |
| NRI | ESO quality control infrastructure |
| NTT | (La Silla) New Technology Telescope |
| O&E | WG Outreach and Education Working Group |
| OAC | Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte (Naples) |
| OB | Observation Block |
| OCAM | Test/controller camera for CCD220 |
| ODG | Office of the Director General |
| OmegaCAM | (VST) Wide-field Optical camera |
| OPC | Observing Programmes Committee |
| OPO | Observing Programmes Office |
| OPTICON | Optical Infrared Coordination Network for Astronomy |
| OPTIMOS | Multi-object, optical and J-band spectrograph (E-ELT) |
| OSF | (ALMA) Operations Support Facility |
| OSO | Onsala Space Observatory |
| OSO/GARD | Onsala Space Observatory/Group for Advance Receiver Development |
| OT | Observing Tool (ALMA) |
| P-Artemis | Prototype bolometer camera |
| P2PP | Phase 2 Proposal Preparation software |
| P82 | Observing Period 82 |
| P83 | Observing Period 83 |
| P84 | Observing Period 84 |
| PA | Product Assurance |
| PAC | Provisional Acceptance Chile |
| PAE | Preliminary Acceptance Europe |
| PARSEC | Sodium line laser for VLT AO |
| PB | Petabyte |
| PDR | Preliminary Design Review |
| PI | Principal Investigator |
| PIO | Public Information Officer |
| PLC | Programmable Logic Controllers (E-ELT) |
| PLO | Paranal La Silla Observatory |
| PMCS | (ALMA) Project Management Control System |
| PMS | Pre-Main Sequence |
| PR | Press Release |
| PRIMA | Phase-Referenced Imaging and Microarcsecond Astrometry facility (VLTI) |
| PROFISICA | Chilean science foundation |
| PSD | Pipeline Systems Department |
| PYPS | PYramid Phasing Sensor |
| QoS | Quality of Service |
| QSO | Quasi Stellar Object |
| QSR | Quasi-Stellar Radio-source |
| QUEST | (La Silla) QUasar Equatorial Survey Team |
| R&D | Research and Development |
| RadioNet | Radio Astronomy Network in Europe |
| RAL | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot (UK) |
| REM | Rapid Eye Movement Telescope (La Silla) |
| RMN | Reflective Memory Network |
| rms | Root mean square |
| ROHS | Restriction Of Hazardous Substances |
| RRM | Rapid Response Mode |
| SABOCA | Submillimeter APEX BOlometer CAmera |
| SAC | EURO-VO Science Advisory Committee |
| SAM | Sparse Aperture Mask (NACO) |
| SAMPO | Project to evaluate the future needs for the ESO community in the area of data reduction and analysis environments |
| SCO | (ALMA) Santiago Central Office |
| SDD | Software Development Division |
| SED | System Engineering Department |
| SEI | System Engineering and Integration (ALMA) |
| SHAPS | Shack-Hartmann sensor |
| SHFI | Swedish Heterodyne Facility Instrument (APEX) |
| SiC | (E-ELT) Silicon Carbide - mirror substrate |
| SIMPLE | High Spectral Resolution NIR Spectrograph |
| SINFONI | Spectrograph for INtegral Field Observations in the Near Infrared (VLT) |
| SIS | (ALMA) superconductor insulator superconductor |
| SM | Service Mode (observing) |
| SM4 | Servicing Mission 4 (HST) |
| SNAP | SuperNova Acceleration Probe |
| SOFI | (La Silla) Son OF Isaac |
| SPARTA | Scalable Platform for Adaptive optics Real-Time computer Applications |
| spaxels | Resolution scale for spectroscopy |
| SPC | Science Personnel Committee |
| SPHERE | Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research instrument |
| SPRT | (ESA) Science Programme Review Team |
| SSAC | (E-ELT) Site Selection Advisory Committee |
| ST-ECF | Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility |
| STAC | Standing Advisory Committee |
| STC | ESO Scientific and Technical Committee |
| STFC | Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK) |
| STIS | Slit spectrograph (HST) |
| STRAP | System for Tip-tilt Removal with Avalanche Photodiodes |
| STS | (VLTI) STar Separator |
| STScI | Space Telescope Science Institute (USA) |
| SUBARU | Japanese 8m telescope |
| SUSI2 | SUperb Seeing Imager-2 (NTT) |
| SV | Science Verification |
| SWG | Science Working Group |
| Swift | NASA mission aimed at gamma-ray burst studies |
| TAROT | (La Silla) Télescope à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires |
| TB | Terabyte |
| TEC | Technical Division |
| TEL | Telescope Systems Division |
| TFB | (ALMA) Tunable Filter Bank |
| THELI | Software package for the reduction of astronomical imaging data |
| TinyTim | Software for computing Hubble point spread functions |
| ToO | Target of Opportunity |
| TORTORA | Telescopio Ottimizzato per la Ricerca dei Transiti Ottici RApidi |
| TSD | Telescope Systems Division |
| TT | Technology Transfer |
| UC | ESO Users Committee |
| UK | United Kingdom |
| UKIDSS | UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey |
| UKIRT | UK Infrared Telescope |
| ULTRACAM | (VLT) visitor instrument |
| ULTRASPEC | High-speed, spectroscopic camera (ESO 3.6-metre) |
| USD | User Support Department |
| UT | Unit Telescope of the VLT |
| UT1–4 | VLT Unit Telescopes 1–4: Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun |
| UV | Ultraviolet (wavelengths) |
| UVES | UV-Visual Echelle Spectrograph (VLT) |
| VA | Visiting Astronomer |
| VC | ESO Visiting Committee |
| VIMOS | VIsible MultiObject Spectrograph (VLT) |
| VIPERS | VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey |
| VIRCAM | VISTA Infra-Red CAMera |
| VirGO | Visual Archive Browser |
| VISA | (VLTI) VLT Interferometer Small Array |
| VISIR | VLT Imager and Spectrograph for the mid-InfraRed |
| VISTA | Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy |
| VLA | Very Large Array |
| VLT | Very Large Telescope |
| VLT/I | Very Large Telescope and its Interferometer |
| VLTI | Very Large Telescope Interferometer |
| VM | Visitor Mode (observing) |
| VNR | Video News Release |
| VO | Virtual Observatory |
| VOP | Virtual Observatory Project Office |
| VOS | Virtual Observatory Systems |
| VOTech | EU FP6 funded design study for Euro-VO |
| VPH | Volume phase holographic, type of grating |
| VSI | VLTI Spectro Imager (2nd generation instrument) |
| VST | VLT Survey Telescope |
| VTK | Vibration Tracking |
| WEB | (E-ELT) Wind Evaluation Breadboard |
| WFC | Wide Field Channel |
| WFC3 | Wide Field Camera 3 (Hubble) |
| WFCAM | Infrared wide field camera for the UK Infrared Telescope on Mauna Kea |
| WFI | Wide Field Imager (2.2-metre) |
| WFMOS | Wide-Field Multi-Object Spectrograph |
| WFPC2 | Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 (HST) |
| Wind | First of two NASA spacecraft in the Global Geospace Science initiative |
| WP | Work Package |
| WVR | Water Vapour Radiometer (ALMA) |
| X-Shooter | (VLT) 2nd generation spectrograph / Wideband ultraviolet-infrared single target spectrograph (VLT) |
| XAO | eXtreme Adaptive Optics |
| XMM-Newton | X-ray Multi-Mirror satellite (ESA) |
| Yepun | VLT Unit Telescope 4 |
| zCOSMOS | VLT LP redshift survey |
| ZEUS | Zernike Unit for Segment Phasing |
| µas | micro-arcsecond (unit of angular separation) |