951 abbreviations
Abbreviation Meaning
PAMELA (telescope) Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics, a space telescope used to study cosmic rays
Pan-STARRS (telescope) Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System
PASJ (publication) Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
PASP (publication) Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
PCA (instrumentation) Proportional Counter Array, an X-ray detector on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer
PCAS (observing program) Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey
PDBI (telescope) Plateau de Bure Interferometer, a radio telescope
PDR a photodissociation region or photon-dominated region (both terms are used synonymously); a region in the neutral ISM in which far-ultraviolet photons dominate the heating and chemistry
PEP (instrumentation) PhotoElectric Photometry, an observing technique using photometers
PEPE (instrumentation) Plasma Experiment for Planetary Exploration, an instrument on Deep Space 1
PHA (celestial object) Potentially Hazardous Asteroid
PI (person) Principal Investigator, the person who leads a scientific project
PK (catalog) Perek-Kohoutek, a catalog of planetary nebulae
P-L a set of asteroid discoveries in the 1960s
Planemo (celestial object) Planetary Mass Object
PLANET (observing program) Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork, a program to search for microlensing events
PLS (observing program) Palomar-Leiden Survey, a program to search for asteroids
PMPS (observing program) Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey
PMS (celestial object) Pre-Main Sequence, young stars that are still in the process of formation
PMT (instrumentation) PhotoMultiplier Tube
PN (celestial object) Planetary Nebula
PNG (catalog) Galactic Planetary Nebula
PNLF (astrophysics terminology) Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function, the density of planetary nebulae as a function of their luminosity
PNN (celestial object) Planetary Nebula Nucleus, the central star in a planetary nebula
PNNV (celestial object) Planetary Nebula Nucleus Variable, a variable star in the center of a planetary nebula
POSS (observing program) Palomar Observatory Sky Survey
PPARC (organization) Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, a major government-sponsored science agency in the United Kingdom, merged into the Science and Technology Facilities Council in 2007
PPM (catalog) Positions and Proper Motions, a catalog of the positions and proper motions of stars
PPN (celestial object) Proto-Planetary Nebula, an object that has partially evolved from a red giant to a planetary nebula
PRE (astrophysics terminology) Photospheric Radius Expansion
Proplyd (celestial object) Protoplanetary Disk
PSC (catalog) Point Source Catalog, a catalog of point-like infrared sources detected with the Infrared Astronomy Satellite
PSF (instrumentation) Point Spread Function, a function that describes the blurring of a point source that is caused by the optics of the telescope and instrument (as well as other effects)
PSI (organization) Planetary Science Institute
PSR (celestial object) Pulsar
PVO (spacecraft) Pioneer Venus Orbiter
PVTEL (celestial object) PV TELescopii, a class of pulsating variable stars named after PV Telescopii, the archetype for the class
PWD (celestial object) Pre-White Dwarf, a star that no longer creates energy through fusion that will eventually evolve into a white dwarf
PWN (celestial object) Pulsar Wind Nebula
PZT (telescope) Photographic Zenith Tube, a general name for any telescope designed to observe objects passing at the zenith
QBO (astrophysics terminology) Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, a type of season variation in the Earth's atmosphere
QE (instrumentation) Quantum Efficiency, the sensitivity of CCDs
QPO (astrophysics terminology) Quasi-Periodic Oscillation
QSO (celestial object) Quasi-Stellar Object
Quasar (celestial object) QUASi-stellAR radio source
RA (astrophysics terminology) Right Ascension
RAFGL See AFGL.
RAMBO (celestial object) An association of brown dwarfs or white dwarfs form a dark cluster.
RAPTOR Rapid Telescopes for Optical Response project
RAS (organization) Royal Astronomical Society