F
Acronyms
2MASS 2 Micron All Sky Survey
AAAC Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee
AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science
AAG Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants
AANM Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium
AAPF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellows
AAS American Astronomical Society
ACS Advanced Camera for Surveys
ACTA Atmospheric Čerenkov Telescope Array
AGIS Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System
AGU American Geophysical Union
ALFA Adaptive optics with a Laser for Astronomy
ALMA Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
ALTAIR Access to Large Telescopes for Astronomical Instruction and Research
AO adaptive optics
AO Announcement of Opportunity
APRA Astronomy and Physics Research and Analysis
APS American Physical Society
ARCADE Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission
ARISE Advanced Radio Interferometry between Space and Earth
ARO Arizona Radio Observatory
ARRA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
ATA Allen Telescope Array
ATI Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation
ATP Astrophysics Theory Program
ATST Advanced Technology Solar Telescope
AUI Associated Universities, Inc.
AURA Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
BigBOSS Big Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
BLISS Background-Limited Infrared-Submillimeter Spectrograph
BPA Board on Physics and Astronomy
CANGAROO Collaboration of Australia and Nippon (Japan) for a Gamma Ray Observatory in the Outback
CARMA Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy
CATE cost appraisal and technical evaluation
CFP Cosmology and Fundamental Physics, Panel on
CMB cosmic microwave background
COBE Cosmic Background Explorer
CoBRA Coherent Online Baseband Receiver for Astronomy
Con-X Constellation-X
COROT Convection, Rotation and Planetary Transits
CSO Caltech Submillimeter Observatory
CTA Čerenkov Telescope Array
CTIO Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
CXC Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
DES Dark Energy Survey
DOE Department of Energy
DSIAC decadal survey implementation advisory committee
E-ELT European Extremely Large Telescope
EHT Event Horizon Telescope
EJSM Europa Jupiter System Mission
EOS Electromagnetic Observations from Space, Panel on
ESA European Space Agency
ESM Electromagnetic Spectrum Management
ESO European Southern Observatory
EU European Union
EVLA Expanded Very Large Array
EXIST Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope
FACA Federal Advisory Committee Act
FASR Frequency Agile Solar Radiotelescope
FFAR Federal Funding of Astronomical Research
FGST Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
FIRST Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-one Centimeters
FUSE Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
FY fiscal year
GAIA Graphical Astronomy and Image Analysis
GALEX Galaxy Evolution Explorer
GAN Galactic Neighborhood, Panel on
GBT Green Bank Telescope
GCT Galaxies across Cosmic Time, Panel on
GEMS Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX
GMT Giant Magellan Telescope
GONG Global Oscillation Network Group
GRB gamma-ray burst
GSMT Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope
HAO High Altitude Observatory
HAWC High Altitude Water Čerenkov experiment
HEASARC High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center
HEGRA High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy
HEPAP High Energy Physics Advisory Panel
HERA Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array
HESS High Energy Stereoscopic System
HET Hobby-Eberly Telescope
HPC high-performance computing
HST Hubble Space Telescope
IAU International Astronomical Union
Inst/Tech Instrumentation and Technology Development
IPA Intergovernmental Personnel Act
IPAC Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
IR infrared
IRAS Infrared Astronomy Satellite
IRTF Infrared Telescope Facility
ISG Infrastructure Study Group
ISM interstellar medium
ITAR International Traffic in Arms Regulations
IXO International X-Ray Observatory
IYA International Year of Astronomy
JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
JDEM Joint Dark Energy Mission
JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory
JWST James Webb Space Telescope
KPNO Kitt Peak National Observatory
LBT Large Binocular Telescope
LDB Long-duration balloon
LHC Large Hadron Collider
LIGO Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory
LISA Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
LMT Large Millimeter Telescope
LSST Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
MAGIC Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging erenkov Telescope
MAST Multimission Archive at STScI
MIDEX Medium-scale Explorer
MIE Model Institutions for Excellence
MoO Mission of Opportunity
MPS Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Directorate for (NSF)
MPSAC Mathematical and Physical Sciences Advisory Committee
MREFC Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction
MRI Major Research Instrumentation
MSP Math and Science Partnership
NAIC National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NICMOS Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer
NOAO National Optical Astronomy Observatory
NRAO National Radio Astronomy Observatory
NRC National Research Council
NSB National Science Board
NSF National Science Foundation
NSF-AGS National Science Foundation Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences
NSF-AST National Science Foundation Division of Astronomical Sciences
NSF-OCI National Science Foundation Office of CyberInfrastructure
NSF-OPP National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs
NSF-PHY National Science Foundation Division of Physics
NSO National Solar Observatory
NuSTAR Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array
NVSS NRAO VLA Sky Survey
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OHEP Office of High Energy Physics (DOE)
OIR optical and infrared; Optical and Infrared Astronomy from the Ground, Panel on
OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy
PAG Particle Astrophysics and Gravitation, Panel on
PASAG Particle Astrophysics Scientific Assessment Group
PLATO Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars
PPP Program Prioritization Panel
PSF Planetary Systems and Star Formation, Panel on
R&A research and analysis
R&D research and development
R&E research and education
ReSTAR Renewing Small Telescopes for Astronomical Research
REU Research Experiences for Undergraduates
RFI request for information
RMS radio, millimeter, and submillimeter; Radio, Millimeter, and Submillimeter Astronomy from the Ground, Panel on
RXTE Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer
SALT South African Large Telescope
SDO Solar Dynamics Observatory
SDSS Sloan Digital Sky Survey
SETI Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
SFP Science Frontiers Panel
SIM Space Interferometry Mission
SKA Square Kilometer Array
SKA-low Square Kilometer Array, low-frequency
SMA Submillimeter Array
SMD Science Mission Directorate (NASA)
SMEX Small Explorer
SOAR Southern Astrophysical Research
SOFIA Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
SOHO Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
SPICA Space Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics
SPT South Pole Telescope
SSB Space Studies Board
SSE Stars and Stellar Evolution, Panel on
STC Science and Technology Center
STEM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
STEREO Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory
STScI Space Telescope Science Institute
Tech/MSP Technology development and mid-scale projects
TMT Thirty-Meter Telescope
TRACE Transition Region and Coronal Explorer
TSIP Telescope System Instrument Program
UK United Kingdom
ULDB ultralong-duration balloon
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
URO University Radio Observatory
UV ultraviolet
VERITAS Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System
VLA Very Large Array
VLBA Very Long Baseline Array
VLT Very Large Telescope
WFIRST Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope
WISE Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer
WIYN Wisconsin, Indiana, Yale, and NOAO Observatory
WMAP Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
XEUS X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy
XMM X-ray Multi-mirror Mission