| A/D | Analog-to-Digital |
| ADAP | NASA ROSES Astrophysics Data Analysis Program |
| ADCS | Attitude Determination and Control System |
| AU | Astronomical Unit |
| ARTID | Artifact Identification Subsystem in the WSDS |
| AWAIC | A WISE Astronomical Image Coadder module in the WSDS system |
| AWOD | A WISE Outlier Detection module in the WSDS system |
| BATC | Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation |
| Bmatch | Background matching |
| BSA | Beam-Splitter Assembly |
| CGI | Common Gateway Interface |
| CMD | Color-magnitude Diagrams |
| COADD | Image Coaddition subsystem in the WSDS |
| COV | Depth-of-COVerage |
| CPU | Central Processing Unit |
| CROTA2 | Coordinate ROTAtion about axis 2 (W.of.N convention) |
| DB | Database |
| DBMS | Database Management System |
| DEB | Digital Electronics Box (WISE Payload Component) |
| Dec | Declination |
| DN | Data Number, Digital Number |
| FEB | Focal-plane Electronics Box (WISE Payload Component) |
| FITS | Flexible Image Transport System |
| FMC | Flash Memory Card |
| FOV | Field-of-View |
| FPA | Focal Plane Assembly/Array |
| FPG | Final Product Generation |
| FWHM | Full Width at Half Maximum |
| gnDSTR | generate Distortion (WSDS module that calibrates distortion) |
| HEALPix | Hierarchical Equal Area isoLatitude Pixelization |
| HgCdTe | Mercury Cadmium Telluride |
| H/K | Engineering Housekeeping |
| HRDP | High Rate Data Processor |
| IAU | International Astronomical Union |
| ICal | Instrumental Calibration module in the WSDS |
| ICD | Interface Control Document |
| ICRS or ICRF | International Celestial Reference System or International Celestial Reference Frame |
| INT | Intensity |
| IOC | In-orbit Checkout |
| IPAC | Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology |
| IR | Infrared |
| IRAS | Infrared Astronomical Satellite |
| IRSA | NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive |
| JPEG | Joint Photographic Experts Group (image format) |
| JPL | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| Jy | Jansky |
| JWST | James Webb Space Telescope |
| KSSOPAL | Known Solar System Object Possible Association List |
| LAN | Local Area Network |
| LSB | Least Significant Bit |
| LSST | Large Synoptic Survey Telescope |
| LWIR | Long-wave Infrared |
| MAD | Median Absolute Deviation |
| MAGZP | MAGnitude Zero Point |
| MAGZPUNC | MAGnitude Zero Point UNCertainty |
| MDET | Multiband Detection subsystem in the WSDS |
| MED | Median |
| MEP | Multiepoch Source Database |
| MFPREX | Multiframe Position Reconstruction subsystem in the WSDS |
| MJD | Modified Julian Date |
| MOPEX | MOsaicker and Point source EXtractor |
| MOS | Mission Operations System |
| MPC | IAU Minor Planet Center |
| MPCIOD | MPC Initial Orbit Determination |
MPECS |
Minor Planet Electronic Circulars |
| MSA | Mission Support Area (MOS at JPL) |
| MTBF | Mean Time Between Failures |
| MTTR | Mean Time To Recovery |
| MUB | Mission Unique Board |
| NaN | Not-a-Number |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| N.B. | Nota Bene, "Note Well" |
| NEP | North Ecliptic Pole |
| NEO | Near-Earth Object |
| NEOO | NASA Near-Earth Object Observations Program |
| NEOWISE | Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer |
| NSSDC | National Space Science Data Center, NASA/GSFC |
| PA | Position Angle |
| Pan-STARRS | Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System |
| PCAL | Photometric Calibration subsystem in the WSDS |
| PDS | NASA Planetary Data System |
| PRex | Position Reconstruction |
| PRF | Point Response Function |
| PSC | (2MASS) Point Source Catalog |
| PSF | Point Spread Function |
| Q-to-Q | Quadrant-To-Quadrant |
| QA | Quality Assurance |
| QSO | Quasi-stellar Object (or Quasar) |
| RA | Right Ascension |
| RMS | Root-Mean-Square Fluctuation |
| RSS | Root-Sum-Squared |
| RvB | Reference vs. Bandframe File (file of matched 2MRef/WISE sources) |
| SAA | South Atlantic Anomaly |
| SDL | Space Dynamics Laboratory, Utah State University |
| SEP | South Ecliptic Pole |
| SFPREX | Scan/Frame Position Reconstruction module in the WSDS |
| SIP | Simple Imaging Polynomial |
| SiAs or Si:As | Silicon Arsenide |
| SNR,S/N | Signal-To-Noise Ratio |
| SOR | Stationary Object Rejection |
| SQL | Structured Query Language |
| SUR, SUTR | Sample-Up-the-Ramp |
| TDRSS | Tracking and Data Relay Spacecraft System |
| Tmatch | Throughput Matching |
| UCAC | USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog |
| UCLA | University of California Los Angeles |
| UNC | Uncertainty |
| U-Scan | Universal Scan coordinate system |
| U System | same as U-Scan |
| UTC | Coordinated Universal Time |
| V&V | Verification and Validation |
| W1,W2,W3,W4 | WISE Band 1 (3.4μm), Band 2 (4.6μm), Band 3 (12μm) and Band 4 (22μm) |
| WCS | World Coordinate System |
| WDB | Working Database |
| WDISC | White Sands Complex Data Interface Service Capability |
| WISE | Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer |
| WMOPS | WISE Moving Object Pipeline System |
| WPHOT | WISE Photometry subsystem in the WSDS |
| WPRO | Profile-fitting Photometry |
| WSC | White Sands Complex |
| WSDC | WISE Science Data Center (IPAC) |
| WSDS | WISE Science Data System |
| WTCCS | WISE Telemetry Command and Communications Subsystem |
| XSC | (2MASS) Extended Source Catalog |
| 2MASS | Two Micron All-Sky Survey |
| 2MRef | 2MASS Astrometric Reference stars |
Last update: 13 February 2024