ESO Glossary of Acronyms
The present list contains the most common acronyms used by ESO, but does not pretend to be complete.
| 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 |
| ACD | Amplitude Calibration Device (ALMA) |
| 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 |
| AG | Aktiengesellschaft |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| AUI | Associated Universities Inc. |
| AVM | Astronomical Visualisation Metadata |
| BAM | Construction company for the Headquarters extension |
| BE | Back-End (ALMA) |
| BELLA | Building Europe Link to Latin America |
| BFL | Budget and Forward Look |
| 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 |
| CAD | Computer Aided Design |
| 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) |
| CCD | Charge Coupled Device |
| CCTV | Closed Circuit TeleVision |
| 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 |
| CERN | European Organization for Nuclear Research |
| CES | Coude Echelle Spectrometer |
| CfP | Call for Proposal |
| CfT | Call for tender |
| CHAMP+ | Dual channel heterodyne receiver array (APEX) |
| CHF | Swiss francs |
| CLIF | Convolution with Linearized Inverse Filter algorithm for wavefront sensing |
| CLP | Chilean Peso |
| CMB | Cosmic Microwave Background |
| CMOS | Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor |
| CMS | Cisco Meeting Server |
| 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 | Cryogenic InfraRed Echelle Spectrometer (VLT) |
| CRIRES+ | Planned upgrade to CRIRES |
| 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 |
| DoA | Directorate of Administration |
| DoE | Directorate of Engineering |
| DoO | Directorate of Operations |
| DoP | Directorate of Programmes |
| 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) |
| ESA | European Space Agency |
| ESAC | European Space Astronomy Centre (ESA, Spain) |
| ESAC | European Science Advisory Committee (for ALMA) |
| 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 |
| ETH | Swiss Federal Institute of Technology |
| EU | European Union |
| EUR | Euro |
| 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 | Front End |
| FE IPT | Front-End Integrated Project Team (ALMA) |
| 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 |
| FPGA | Field Programmable Gate Array |
| FTE | Full Time Equivalent |
| FWHM | Full Width at Half Maximum |
| GALACSI | Ground Atmospheric Layer Adaptive Optics for Spectroscopic Imaging (AOF) |
| GB | Gigabyte |
| GBP | British Pounds |
| GÉANT | European multi-gigabit computer network for research and education purposes |
| gGmbH | Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (non-profit German limited liability company) |
| GHz | Gigahertz |
| 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 |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface |
| GWh | Gigawatt hours |
| 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 |
| HQ | Headquarters |
| HR | Human Resources |
| HST | Hubble Space Telescope |
| HVAC | Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning |
| IAG | Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences (Brazil) |
| IAS | International Accounting Standards |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| JPL | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| 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 |
| 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 | million/1,000,000 |
| M# | Mirror # |
| 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 |
| MIT | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 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 |
| PB | Petabyte |
| PC | Personal Computer |
| Portable Document Format | |
| PDM | Product Document Management |
| 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 |
| QA | Quality Assurance |
| 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 |
| RTC | Real Time Computing |
| 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 |
| SE | System Engineering (ALMA) |
| SEK | Swedish Crown |
| SEO | Search Engine Operations |
| SEPA | Single Euro Payments Area |
| 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) |
| 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) |
| SW | Software |
| TAROT | Télescope à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires |
| TAROT-S | Télescopes à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires South |
| TB | Terabyte |
| 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 |
| TUM | Technische Universität München |
| UC | Users Committee |
| UK | United Kingdom |
| UK ATC | UK Astronomy Technology Centre |
| Ultracam | High-speed camera (VLT) |
| UltraVISTA | Ultra-deep near-infrared survey in the COSMOS field |
| UN | United Nations |
| UNCOPUOS | United Nations Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space |
| UNESCO | United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization |
| US | United States (of America) |
| USD | User Support Department |
| USD | United States Dollar |
| 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) |
| VAT | Value Added Tax |
| 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) |
| VIP | Very Important Person |
| 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 |