| Prefix | Example | Survey/Catalog | |
|---|
| number | 55 Cancri | Flamsteed designation | followed by constellation |
| number G. | 41 G. Arae | Flamsteed designation | Gould designation |
| Greek letter | α Orionis | Bayer designation | followed by constellation |
| β | β 860 | double star designation | discoverer(Burnham) |
| βpm | βpm 6 | rare designator prefixes | author, proper motion, or "BUP" |
| Δ | Δ 38 | Dunlop Double Star Catalogue | |
| Φ | Φ 332 | double star designation | discoverer(Finsen) |
| Σ | Σ2740 | Struve Catalogs | elder Struve |
| 0ES | 0ES 1225+44.7 | HEAO-2 | Einstein Slew Survey version 0 |
| 0FGL | 0FGL J0614.3-3330 | Fermi | LAT Bright Source |
| 1 Jy | 1 Jy 0902+343 | 1 Jansky Empty Field Survey | |
| 10C | 10C J104320+585621 | Cambridge Catalog of Radio Sources | 10th catalog |
| 1A | 1A620-00 | Ariel 5 | first list |
| 1AGL | 1AGL J0634+1748 | AGILE | first catalog |
| 1C | 1C 19.01 | Cambridge Catalog of Radio Sources | 1st catalog |
| 1E | 1E1740.7-2942 | HEAO-2 | Soft X-ray Source List |
| 1ES | 1ES 0414+009 | HEAO-2 | Einstein Slew Survey |
| 1FGL | 1FGL J1231.1-1410 | Fermi | LAT First-year Source |
| 1H | 1H 0323+342 | HEAO-1 | HEAO A-1 X-ray Source Catalog |
| 1RXH | 1RXH J173523.7-354013 | ROSAT | First catalog using HRI |
| 1RXP | 1RXP J175029-2859.9 | ROSAT | First PSPC source list |
| 1RXS | 1RXS J160929.1-210524 | ROSAT | First ROSAT X-ray Survey |
| 1SAX | 1SAX J1218.9+2958 | BeppoSAX | |
| 1SWASP | 1SWASP J140747 | SuperWASP | |
| 1WGA | 1WGA J1713.4-3949 | rare designator prefixes | 1st catalog, compilers |
| 2A | 2A1705+786 | Ariel 5 | second list |
| 2C | 2C 1686 | Cambridge Catalog of Radio Sources | 2nd catalog |
| 2CG | 2CG 135+01 | Cos-B | second catalog |
| 2dFGRS | 2dFGRS TGS382Z148 | 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey | |
| 2E | 2E 0050.1-7247 | HEAO-2 | 2nd Soft X-ray Source List |
| 2EG | 2EG J0809+5117 | Compton Gamma Ray Observatory | 2nd EGRET catalog |
| 2EGS | 2EGS J1418-6049 | Compton Gamma Ray Observatory | 2EG supplement |
| 2EUVE | 2EUVE J2055-17.1 | Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer | second catalog |
| 2FGL | 2FGL J0143.6-5844 | Fermi | LAT Second-year Source |
| 2HWC | 2HWC J0534+220 | High-altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory | |
| 2M | 2M1207 | Two Micron All-sky Survey | abbreviated |
| 2MA | 2MA 1835-3259 | Two Micron All-sky Survey | abbreviated |
| 2MASP | 2MASP J0345432+254023 | Two Micron All-sky Survey | prototype survey |
| 2MASS | 2MASS J16264502-2423077 | Two Micron All-sky Survey | |
| 2MASSI | 2MASSI J0937347+293142 | Two Micron All-sky Survey | incremental release |
| 2MASSP | 2MASSP J0345432+254023 | Two Micron All-sky Survey | should be "2MASP" |
| 2MASSW | 2MASSW J0746425+200032 | Two Micron All-sky Survey | working database |
| 2MASX | 2MASX J00482185-2507365 | Two Micron All-sky Survey | "Extended source catalogue" |
| 2MUCD | 2MUCD 10390 | Two Micron All-sky Survey | ultracool dwarf |
| 2QZ | 2QZ J002830.4-281706 | rare designator prefixes | 2dF quasar redshift |
| 2RE | 2RE J0357+283 | ROSAT | Second EUV catalog |
| 2RXP | 2RXP J112937.5+635714 | ROSAT | Second PSPC source list |
| 2S | 2S 0114+65 | Small Astronomy Satellite 3 | list 2 |
| 2SLAQ | 2SLAQ J102124.61-004017.3 | 2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO survey | |
| 2U | 2U 1957+40 | Uhuru | Second Catalog |
| 2UCAC | 2UCAC 27012288 | USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog | same as "UCAC2 27012288" |
| 2XMM | 2XMM J011942.7+032421 | XMM-Newton | second catalog |
| 3A | 3A620-00 | Ariel 5 | third list |
| 3C | 3C 273 | Third Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources | |
| 3CR | 3CR 68.1 | Third Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources | updated version |
| 3EG | 3EG J1621+8203 | Compton Gamma Ray Observatory | 3rd EGRET catalog |
| 3FHL | 3FHL J1823.3-1339 | Fermi | LAT hard source, third catalog |
| 3U | 3U 1044-30 | Uhuru | Third Catalog |
| 4C | 4C 02.32 | Fourth Cambridge Catalog of Radio Sources | |
| 4CT | 4CT 39.49.1 | Fourth Cambridge Catalog of Radio Sources | additional sources |
| 4FGL | 4FGL J1120.0-2204 | Fermi | LAT Fourth-year Source |
| 4U | 4U 0241+61 | Uhuru | Fourth Catalog |
| 4XMM | 4XMM J055411.3+013215 | XMM-Newton | serendipitous survey |
| 5C | 5C 4.81 | Cambridge Catalog of Radio Sources | 5th catalog |
| 6C | 6C 0905+3955 | Cambridge Catalog of Radio Sources | 6th catalog |
| 7C | 7C 105517.75+495540.95 | Cambridge Catalog of Radio Sources | 7th catalog |
| 87GB | 87GB 090153.2+694215 | 87GB Catalog of Radio Sources | |
| 8C | 8C 1435+63 | Cambridge Catalog of Radio Sources | 8th catalog |
| 8pc | 8pc 163.51 | 8 pc | |
| 9C | 9C J1503+4528 | Cambridge Catalog of Radio Sources | 9th catalog |
| A | A 0136-0801 | APM Galaxy Survey | short form |
| A | A 1246-09 | Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies | if has no NGC or IC number |
| A | A 1248 | double star designation | or "Aitken 1248"(discoverer) |
| A | A 3627 | Abell Catalog | abbreviated |
| A | A 58 | rare designator prefixes | or Abell, PNe |
| A | A620-00 | Ariel 5 | original/abbreviated designator |
| A1689 | A1689-zD1 | rare designator prefixes | object lensed by Abell 1689 |
| A2744 | A2744z7p9OD | rare designator prefixes | object lensed by Abell 2744 |
| AB | AB 12 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Abell | Abell 1 | Palomar Globular Clusters | or "Cl Palomar 1" |
| Abell | Abell 3627 | Abell Catalog | |
| Abell | Abell 39 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| Abetti | Abetti 11 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| ABGC | ABGC 209 | Abell Catalog | or "ABCG 209" |
| AC | AC +79 3888 | Astrographic Catalog | |
| AC | AC 114 | rare designator prefixes | authors+ or "ACCG 114" |
| AC | AC 2 | double star designation | or "A.C.", discoverer's initials |
| AC | AC 211 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| ACH | ACH 6 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Ack | Ack 277.7-03.5 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| ACO | ACO 3627 | Abell Catalog | |
| ACT | ACT-CL J0102-4915 | Atacama Cosmology Telescope | CL for "galaxy cluster" |
| ADBS | ADBS 113845+2008 | rare designator prefixes | telescope/instrument |
| ADS | ADS 5951 | Aitken Double Star Catalogue | |
| AFGL | AFGL 4029 | AFGL Four Color Infrared Sky Survey | |
| Ag | Ag 5 | rare designator prefixes | author initial, galaxy |
| AG | AG-136 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| AGC | AGC 198691 | Arecibo General Catalog | |
| AGC | AGC 1 | rare designator prefixes | or "A.G.C.", discoverer "Clark" |
| AGC | AGC 2065 | Abell Catalog | for "Abell Galaxy Cluster" |
| AGK | AGK +81 266 | Astronomische Gesellschaft Katalog | or "AG" |
| AGKR | AGKR 1017 | Astronomische Gesellschaft Katalog | subset of reference stars |
| AGL | AGL J1511-0909 | AGILE | |
| AGPS | AGPS 273.4-17.8 | ASCA | |
| AH03 | AH03 J1725-34.4 | rare designator prefixes | author & year |
| Ahmed | Ahmed 5 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| AKARI | AKARI-FIS-V1 J0001275+644107 | AKARI | |
| Al | Al 2-F | rare designator prefixes | author, PNe |
| Alcaino | Alcaino 49 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| ALD | ALD 19 | rare designator prefixes | author abbrev. |
| ALESS | ALESS 122.1 | submillimeter galaxy designator | Alma LESS |
| Alessi | Alessi J18350+7223 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| ALEXIS | ALEXIS J1139-685 | ALEXIS | |
| Alicante | Alicante 12 | rare designator prefixes | university |
| Aller | Aller 1 | rare designator prefixes | name |
| ALS | ALS 3721 | rare designator prefixes | college initial |
| AM | AM 1934-563 | Arp-Madore Catalog of Southern Peculiar Galaxies | |
| AM | AM 4 | rare designator prefixes | or "Arp-Madore 4", authors |
| And | And I | Andromeda | M31 satellites |
| Andrews-Lindsay | Andrews-Lindsay 1 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Andromeda | Andromeda I | Andromeda | M31 satellites |
| Anon | Anon 0043-37 | rare designator prefixes | for "anonymous" |
| Anon | Anon 1246-09 | Reference Catalogue of Bright Galaxies | if has no NGC or IC number |
| Antalova | Antalova 1 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Antipin | Antipin V70 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| AO | AO 0235+164 | Arecibo Occultation Survey | |
| Ap | Ap1-9 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| APASS | APASS J327.7257-16.5170 | APASS | |
| APG | APG 148 | Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies | |
| APM | APM 08279+5255 | APM Galaxy Survey | |
| APMPM | APMPM J0237-5928 | rare designator prefixes | APM high PM stars |
| APMUKS | APMUKS(BJ) B215839.70-615403.9 | APM Galaxy Survey | |
| Arches | Arches-F6 | rare designator prefixes | object within Arches star cluster |
| ARG | ARG 1 | double star designation | discoverer(Argelander) |
| Ark | Ark 120 | Arakelian Catalog | or "Arak" or "Akn" or "Arakelian" |
| ARO | ARO 11 | Algonquin Radio Observatory | or PN ARO 11 |
| ARO | ARO 120 | rare designator prefixes | observatory |
| Arp | Arp 220 | Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies | |
| AS | AS 353 | rare designator prefixes | "additional (emission-line) stars" |
| ASAS | ASAS 160048-4846.2 | All Sky Automated Survey | |
| ASASSN | ASASSN-15lh | All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae | |
| ASCC | ASCC 113 | All-Sky Compiled Catalogue | open cluster |
| ASCC | ASCC 744576 | All-Sky Compiled Catalogue | star |
| ASR | ASR 41 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| AT | AT 2017gfo | transient | general for "astronomical transient" |
| AT | AT2019dsg | Transient Name Server | transient not yet classified |
| ATCA | ATCA J0536.9-6913 | Australia Telescope Compact Array | |
| ATELAIS | ATELAIS J003411.59-435817.0 | rare designator prefixes | obs./survey field |
| ATLAS | ATLAS18qqn | ATLAS survey | transient |
| ATLAS | ATLAS J025.6821-33.4627 | VLT Survey Telescope | ATLAS survey |
| AWM | AWM 4 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| AX | AX J2019+1127 | ASCA | |
| AXP | AXP 1E 1048-59 | anomalous X-ray pulsar | |
| AXS | AXS J161730-505505 | ASCA | "serendipitous" |
| AzTEC | AzTEC-3 | rare designator prefixes | instrument |
| AzV | AzV 232 | Catalog of Azzopardi & Vigneau | |
| B | B 324 | rare designator prefixes | "blue" in M33 |
| B | B 1871 | double star designation | discoverer |
| B | B110+3344 | J designator | epoch B1950.0 |
| B | B270 | Barnard Catalog | |
| B2 | B2 0902+34 | Bologna Survey of Radio Sources | 2nd catalog |
| B3 | B3 0219+443 | Bologna Survey of Radio Sources | 3rd catalog |
| BA | BA 1-642 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| BAL | BAL 746 | double star designation | discoverer(Baillaud) or Bail 746 |
| BAR | BAR 61 | double star designation | discoverer(Barnard) or Ba 61 |
| Barnard | Barnard 270 | Barnard Catalog | |
| Bas | Bas 4 | Basel Open Cluster Catalogue | or "Ba 4" |
| Basel | Basel 4 | Basel Open Cluster Catalogue | |
| BAT99 | BAT99-98 | rare designator prefixes | or just "BAT 98", authors & year |
| BAX | BAX 017.9025-38.1867 | rare designator prefixes | X-ray CL |
| BAZ | BAZ 4 | double star designation | or Baize 4, discoverer |
| BC | BC 56 | rare designator prefixes | obs., carbon star |
| BD | BD3 | dropout | general for "blue dropout" |
| BD | BD+36 2147 | Bonner Durchmusterung Catalog | |
| BDF | BDF-3299 | BDF | |
| BDS | BDS 5341 A | Burnham Double Star Catalogue | |
| BDS03 | BDS03 9 | rare designator prefixes | or "BDSB" or BDSB2003, authors, year |
| Be | Be 79 | Berkeley Open Cluster Catalogue | or "Ber 79" |
| Bennett | Bennett 4 | rare designator prefixes | author, or "Ben" |
| Berkeley | Berkeley 79 | Berkeley Open Cluster Catalogue | |
| Bernes | Bernes 157 | rare designator prefixes | author, or "Be" or "BDN" |
| BFS | BFS 15 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| BG | BG 0237+61 | rare designator prefixes | obs. |
| BG | BG 57 42 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| BH | BH 217 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| BHJ | BHJ 2 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| BHR | BHR 71 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| BI | BI 253 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Bica | Bica 6 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| Biurakan | Biurakan 11 | rare designator prefixes | or "Bi 11", stellar clusters, obs. |
| BK | BK 1N | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| BLAST | BLAST J065837-555708 | BLAST | |
| BLG | BLG-390Lb | OGLE | shortened, BLG meaning "bulge" |
| Bo | Bo 111 | Bologna Catalog of Globular Clusters | |
| Bochum | Bochum 10 | rare designator prefixes | obs., also "Bo" |
| Bok | Bok I 421F | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Bol | Bol 111 | Bologna Catalog of Globular Clusters | or "Bologna 111" |
| Bond | Bond 624 | rare designator prefixes | observer |
| BoRG | BoRG 58 | rare designator prefixes | brightest of reionizing galaxies |
| BPI | BPI 14 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| BPM | BPM 78873 A | Bruce Proper Motion Survey | |
| BPM | BPM 976 | rare designator prefixes | "Bordeaux Proper Motion" |
| BPMA | BPMA 1 | rare designator prefixes | "Bordeaux Proper Motion Annex" |
| BPS | BPS CS 22898-0066 | HK Survey | |
| BR | BR1202-0725 | rare designator prefixes | in UK Schmidt Survey B and R plates |
| Bradley | Bradley 3077 | rare designator prefixes | astronomer |
| BRAN | BRAN 285 | rare designator prefixes | or "BBW 285", author |
| BRC | BRC 68 | rare designator prefixes | bright-rimmed clouds |
| Brey | Brey 82 | rare designator prefixes | or "Br 82", author(Breysacher) |
| Brh | Brh V128 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| BRI | BRI 1202-0725 | rare designator prefixes | in UK Schmidt Survey B, R, and I plates |
| BRS | BRS 5 | double star designation | discoverer |
| BrsO | BrsO 14 | double star designation | Brisbane Observatory |
| BRT | BRT 1204 | double star designation | or Barton 1204, discoverer |
| Brun | Brun 907 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| BS | BS 7958 | Bright Star Catalog | for "bright star" |
| BSC | BSC 7958 | Bright Star Catalog | for "bright star catalogue" |
| BSD | BSD 41-2321 | rare designator prefixes | obs., "spectral screening" |
| BSDL | BSDL 2527 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| BSO | BSO 1 | rare designator prefixes | "blue stellar object" - early quasar detection |
| BSO | BSO 14 | double star designation | Brisbane Observatory |
| Btz | Btz 1Aa | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| BUP | BUP 6 | rare designator prefixes | author, proper motion, or "βpm" |
| BV | BV 5-2 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| BV | BV 625 | rare designator prefixes | Bamberg obs. variable |
| BVD | BVD 43 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| BWE | BWE 1957+4035 | Becker, White, and Edwards Catalog | |
| BZ | BZB J0152+0147 | Roma-BZCAT | |
| BzK | BzK 21000 | rare designator prefixes | filters |
| C | C 0739-242 | rare designator prefixes | "cluster" |
| C | C77 | Caldwell Catalog | |
| C* | C* 3207 | rare designator prefixes | carbon-star catalog |
| CAIRNS | CAIRNS J012117.43-003311.8 | rare designator prefixes | survey |
| CAL | CAL 87 | rare designator prefixes | organization |
| Calar | Calar 3 | rare designator prefixes | obs. |
| Caldwell | Caldwell 77 | Caldwell Catalog | |
| Camargo | Camargo 439 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| Camelopardalis | Camelopardalis B | rare designator prefixes | constellation name |
| Carina | Carina Dwarf | rare designator prefixes | constellation name |
| CARMA | CARMA-7 | Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy | |
| Cas | Cas 1 | rare designator prefixes | constellation abbreviation |
| Case | Case 271 | rare designator prefixes | obs. |
| CB | CB 34 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| CBB | CBB 3 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| CBF | CBF 20 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| CBS | CBS 127 | rare designator prefixes | obs., blue star |
| CCCP | CCCP-Cl 14 | rare designator prefixes | survey |
| CCCS | CCCS 1174 | rare designator prefixes | cool carbon stars |
| CCDM | CCDM J12337+4121AB | Catalog of Components of Double and Multiple Stars | |
| CCM | CCM 10 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| CCS | CCS 1394 | rare designator prefixes | cool carbon stars |
| CD | CD-36°15693 | Bonner Durchmusterung Catalog | Cordoba Durchmusterung |
| CDFS | CDFS J033208.6-274649 | Chandra Deep Field South | |
| CDM | CDM-45°1841 | Bonner Durchmusterung Catalog | Cordoba Durchmusterung |
| CE | CE 457 | rare designator prefixes | observatories |
| Ced | Ced 112 | Cederblad Catalog | |
| CEDAG | CEDAG 12 | rare designator prefixes | catalog |
| Cederblad | Cederblad 112 | Cederblad Catalog | |
| CEERS | CEERS-93316 | CEERS | |
| CEL | CEL 1 | rare designator prefixes | instrument |
| CfA | CfA 13 | CfA Redshift Survey | galaxy group |
| CFBD | CFBD J0059-01 | CFBDS | abbreviated |
| CFBDS | CFBDS J005910.90-011401.3 | CFBDS | |
| CFBDSIR | CFBDSIR1458+1013 | CFBDS | infrared observation |
| CFHQS | CFHQS J2329-0301 | Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey | |
| CFHT-BD-Tau | CFHT-BD-Tau 4 | CFBDS | Tauras SFR observation |
| CFHTLS | CFHTLS J141446.82+544631.9 | CFHTLS | |
| CFHTWIR-Oph | CFHTWIR-Oph 98 | rare designator prefixes | telescope/instrument-constellation |
| CFRS | CFRS 03.1077 | Canada-France Redshift Survey | |
| CFS | CFS 18398 | Astrographic Catalog | (or CF) Cape of Good Hope zone |
| CG | CG 26 | Bok globule | cometary globule |
| CG | CG 353+16 | Cos-B | |
| CG | CG 657 | rare designator prefixes | obs., galaxy |
| CGCG | CGCG 448-020 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | |
| CGCS | CGCS 673 | rare designator prefixes | cool galactic carbon stars |
| CGMW | CGMW 1-260 | rare designator prefixes | Candidate galaxy behind the MW |
| CGO | CGO 439 | rare designator prefixes | galactic O stars |
| CGPG | CGPG 0930.5+5527 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | compact galaxies |
| CGSS | CGSS 184 | rare designator prefixes | S-type star, same as CSS |
| Cha | Cha 110913-773444 | rare designator prefixes | SFR |
| Cha Halpha | Cha Halpha 2 | rare designator prefixes | SFR, H-alpha source |
| CHE | CHE 45 | double star designation | discoverer(Chevalier) |
| Chereul | Chereul 1 | rare designator prefixes | moving groups, author |
| Christie | Christie's Leo Cluster | rare designator prefixes | for discoverer "William H. Christie" of Mount Wilson Observatory |
| Chupina | Chupina 1 | rare designator prefixes | stellar clusters, author |
| CHXR | CHXR 49 | rare designator prefixes | SFR, X-ray source |
| Ci | Ci 20 483 | rare designator prefixes | Cincinnati Obs. |
| CID | CID-42 | Cosmic Evolution Survey | C-COSMOS |
| CIG | CIG 993 | rare designator prefixes | isolated galaxies |
| CIT | CIT 3 | rare designator prefixes | institution |
| CIZA | CIZA J2242.8+5301 | rare designator prefixes | cluster ZOA |
| CK | CK 2 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Cl | Cl 2 | Collinder Catalog | |
| CL | CL 2 | rare designator prefixes | SN remnant |
| CL | CL J1001+0220 | galaxy cluster | or CLG, general prefix for clusters |
| Cl | Cl Terzan 5 | stellar cluster | general prefix for star cluster |
| CLASS | CLASS B0901+697 | Cosmic Lens All-sky Survey | |
| CLS | CLS 50 | rare designator prefixes | institution, late-type star |
| CLUST | CLUST 1 | rare designator prefixes | stellar clusters |
| CM | CM 12 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| CMC | CMC 804951 | Carlsberg Meridian Catalogue | |
| Cn | Cn 1-1 | rare designator prefixes | PN, discoverer |
| CO | CO-0.40-0.22 | rare designator prefixes | molecular clouds |
| COCONUTS | COCONUTS-2b | COCONUTS | |
| CoD | CoD-36°7429 | Bonner Durchmusterung Catalog | Cordoba Durchmusterung |
| CoKu Tau | CoKu Tau/1 | rare designator prefixes | authors, SFR |
| Col | Col 2 | Collinder Catalog | |
| Collinder | Collinder 2 | Collinder Catalog | |
| COO | COO 70 | double star designation | or "Cor 70", Cordoba Observatory |
| COP | COP 3 | double star designation | discoverer(Copeland) |
| COROT | COROT-1b | COROT | |
| COS | COS-37207 | rare designator prefixes | survey field |
| COSMOS | COSMOS Redshift 7 | Cosmic Evolution Survey | |
| COU | COU 79 | double star designation | discoverer(Couteau) |
| COUP | COUP 704 | COUP | |
| Cox | Cox 98 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| CP | CP 1919 | rare designator prefixes | "Cambridge pulsar" |
| CP | CP-54°1925 | Bonner Durchmusterung Catalog | Cape Photographic Durchmusterung |
| CPD | CPD-57°2874 | Bonner Durchmusterung Catalog | Cape Photographic Durchmusterung |
| CPM | CPM 19 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| CPO | CPO 6 | double star designation | or Cape 6, observatory |
| CPO | CPO 7 | rare designator prefixes | or "CapO", obs. |
| Cr | Cr 2 | Collinder Catalog | |
| CRBR | CRBR 2316.6-2131 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| CRL | CRL 618 | AFGL Four Color Infrared Sky Survey | laboratory |
| CRSS | CRSS J0030.5+2618 | ROSAT | serendipity search |
| CSI | CSI-12-17112 | Catalog of Stellar Identifications | |
| CSL | CSL-1 | rare designator prefixes | institutions, lens |
| CSO | CSO 92 | rare designator prefixes | institution, stellar object |
| CSS | CSS 184 | rare designator prefixes | S-type stars |
| CSS | CSS100217 | Catalina Sky Survey | |
| CSV | CSV 6182 | New Catalogue of Suspected Variable Stars | 1951 predecessor |
| CTA | CTA-102 | rare designator prefixes | Caltech radio source list A |
| CTB | CTB 22 | rare designator prefixes | Caltech radio source list B |
| CTCV | CTCV J2056-3014 | rare designator prefixes | institution, cataclysmic variable stars |
| CTD | CTD 20 | rare designator prefixes | Caltech radio source list D |
| CTIO | CTIO-6 | Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory | |
| CTOI | CTOI 282502866 | Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite | TOI found independently |
| CTQ | CTQ 839 | Calán/Tololo Supernova Survey | quasar |
| CTS | CTS 1020 | Calán/Tololo Supernova Survey | Seyfert galaxy |
| CTSS | CTSS 3 | rare designator prefixes | authors, PNe |
| CW | CW 1045+525 | rare designator prefixes | institution |
| CWISE | CWISE J052306.42-015355.4 | Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer | CatWISE |
| CWISEP | CWISEP J1935-1546 | Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer | preliminary CatWISE |
| CXC | CXCGC J174512.0-285754 | Chandra X-ray Observatory | |
| CXO | CXO CDFS J033225.3-274219 | Chandra X-ray Observatory | |
| CXOGC | CXOGC J174528.6-285605 | Chandra X-ray Observatory | galactic center |
| CXOM31 | CXOM31 J004253.1+411422 | Chandra X-ray Observatory | within M31 |
| CXOU | CXOU J132527.6-430023 | Chandra X-ray Observatory | "unregistered" |
| Cz | Cz 29 | Czernik Catalog | |
| Czernik | Czernik 29 | Czernik Catalog | |
| D | D 413 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| D | D 478 | rare designator prefixes | dark nebulae in M31 |
| D | D3-13 | CFHTLS | D3 for "Deep Field 3" |
| D² | D²-1 | DEEP2 | |
| DA | DA 500 | Dominion Observatory 1420 MHz Source Catalog | |
| DA | DA 6 | double star designation | discoverer(Dawes) |
| Danks | Danks 2 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| DASCH | DASCH J075731.1+201735 | DASCH | |
| DAW | DAW 35 | double star designation | discoverer(Dawson) |
| DB | DB 117 | Dominion Observatory 10.03 MHz Source Catalog | |
| DB | DB2001 36 | rare designator prefixes | authors, open clusters |
| DBB | DBB 354 | rare designator prefixes | authors, molecular clouds |
| DBSB | DBSB 48 | rare designator prefixes | authors, stellar clusters |
| DC | DC 1842-62 | rare designator prefixes | author, galaxy clusters |
| DC | DC 287.1+02.4 | dark nebula | general prefix |
| DCld | DCld DCld 300.2-16.9 | dark nebula | general prefix |
| DDO | DDO 98 | David Dunlap Observatory Catalog | |
| DEEP-GSS | DEEP-GSS 312-1668 | DEEP2 | DEEP Goth Strip Survey |
| DeHt | DeHt 5 | rare designator prefixes | or "DHW", authors, PNe |
| DEM | DEM L 158 | rare designator prefixes | authors,LMC |
| DEM | DEM S 10 | rare designator prefixes | authors,SMC |
| DEN | DEN 0255-4700 | DENIS | abbreviated |
| DENIS | DENIS J1013-7842 | DENIS | |
| DENIS-P | DENIS-P J1058.7-1548 | DENIS | provisory designation |
| DES | DES J0211-0646 | Dark Energy Survey | |
| DF | DF 44 | Dragonfly Telephoto Array | |
| DG | DG 129 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| DHK | DHK 29 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Dias | Dias 6 | rare designator prefixes | author, open clusters |
| Djorg | Djorg 3 | rare designator prefixes | author, globular clusters |
| Dju | Dju 9 | double star designation | discoverer(Djurkovic) |
| DLS | DLSCL J0916.2+2951 | Deep Lens Survey | clusters |
| DM | DM-45 1841 | Bonner Durchmusterung Catalog | Cordoba Durchmusterung |
| DM99 | DM99 10 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| DMS | DMS 2247-0209 | Deep Multicolor Survey | |
| DO | DO 20 | rare designator prefixes | Dearborn Observatory |
| Do | Do 41 | rare designator prefixes | or "Dolidze", author, open clusters |
| DoAr | DoAr 9 | rare designator prefixes | or "Do-Ar 9", authors |
| DoDz | DoDz 7 | Dolidze-Dzimselejsvili Catalogue | |
| Don | Don 520 | double star designation | discoverer(Donner) |
| Doo | Doo 35 | double star designation | discoverer(Doolittle) |
| Dorpat | Dorpat 502 | Struve Catalogs | observatory |
| DR | DR 21 | rare designator prefixes | authors, microwave sources |
| Dragonfly | Dragonfly 44 | Dragonfly Telephoto Array | |
| DRCG | DRCG 0428-53 | rare designator prefixes | author, galaxy clusters |
| Dreyer | Dreyer Nebula 584 | New General Catalogue | |
| DUN | DUN 38 | Dunlop Double Star Catalogue | or Dun |
| Dunlop | Dunlop 38 | Dunlop Double Star Catalogue | |
| Dunlop | Dunlop 413 | rare designator prefixes | or "Dun 413", author |
| DV | DV 38 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| DV | DV 88 | rare designator prefixes | institution, variable stars in LMC |
| DW | DW 1548-05 | rare designator prefixes | obs. |
| DWB | DWB 111 | Dickel-Wendker-Bieritz Catalog | |
| Dwingeloo | Dwingeloo 1 | Dwingeloo Obscured Galaxy Survey | |
| E | E 0336-248 | HEAO-2 | same as "1E" |
| E | E 3 | ESO/Uppsala Survey of the ESO (B) Atlas | globular clusters |
| E | E253-G3 | ESO/Uppsala Survey of the ESO (B) Atlas | abbreviated |
| EBLM | EBLM J0555-57Ab | rare designator prefixes | project acronym |
| EC | EC 03089-6421 | Palomar-Green Survey | southern hemisphere |
| EDG | EDG 2 | double star designation | discoverer(D.W. Edgecomb) |
| EGB | EGB 6 | rare designator prefixes | authors, PNe |
| EGG | EGG 30 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| EGGR | EGGR 131 | rare designator prefixes | or "EG 131 or GR 131", authors |
| EGM | EGM 100 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| EGS | EGS-zs8-1 | Extended Groth Strip | |
| EGSD2 | EGSD2 J142033.66+525917.5 | DEEP2 | Extended Groth Strip |
| EIC | EIC 725 | rare designator prefixes | Equatorial Infrared Catalog |
| EIS | EIS 0048-2942 | rare designator prefixes | ESO imaging survey |
| ELAIS | ELAISC15 J160250.9+545057 | Infrared Space Observatory | ELAIS survey |
| ELHC | ELHC 10 | EROS | "EROS LMC HAeBe Candidate" |
| Elias | Elias 2-27 | rare designator prefixes | three papers by Elias |
| ENG | ENG 11 | double star designation | discoverer(Engelmann) |
| EPIC | EPIC 201367065 | K2 | input catalog |
| EQ | EQ J221734.0+001701 | equatorial coordinate system | abbreviation |
| eRASSt | eRASSt J074426.3+291606 | eROSITA | transient |
| eRASSU | eRASSU J052914.9-662446 | eROSITA | |
| EROS | EROS 1044 | EROS | |
| ES | ES 964 | double star designation | discoverer(Espin) |
| Es-Birm | Es-Birm 120 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Escorial | Escorial 31 | rare designator prefixes | town, open clusters |
| ESO | ESO 97-G13 | ESO/Uppsala Survey of the ESO (B) Atlas | |
| ESO-HA | ESO-HA 1481 | rare designator prefixes | or "ESO-Halpha 1481" |
| Esp | Esp 42 | double star designation | discoverer(Espin) |
| EU | EU 2053+316 | EURECA | X-ray transient |
| EUVE | EUVE J2359-30.6 | Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer | |
| EVCC | EVCC 2248 | Virgo Cluster Catalog | extended VCC |
| EXO | EXO 0706.1+5913 | EXOSAT | slew survey |
| F | F8D1 | rare designator prefixes | field/dwarf galaxy |
| F2M | F2M J1004+1229 | rare designator prefixes | surveys |
| Fagerholm | Fagerholm 136 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Fairall | Fairall 9 | Fairall Galaxy List | |
| FAUST | FAUST 3725 | FAUST | |
| FBQS | FBQS J1408+3054 | FIRST | quasar survey |
| FBS | FBS 1339+117 | Second Byurakan Survey | First Byurakan Survey |
| FCC | FCC 35 | rare designator prefixes | Fornax cluster catalog |
| Feige | Feige 48 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Fermi | Fermi J0109+6134 | Fermi | |
| Ferrero | Ferrero 27 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer, asterisms |
| FeSt | FeSt 1-108 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Fg | Fg 3 | rare designator prefixes | or "Fleming", author, PNe |
| FGC | FGC 1540 | rare designator prefixes | flat galaxies catalogue |
| FGL | FGL J1651.6-4621 | Fermi | ambiguous |
| FIGS | FIGS GN1 1292 | Faint Infrared Grism Survey | |
| FIN | FIN 332 | double star designation | or Finsen 332, discoverer |
| FIRST | FIRST J102347.6+003841 | FIRST | |
| FJF | FJF 270 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| FK4 | FK4 309 | Catalogues of Fundamental Stars | fourth catalog |
| FK5 | FK5 568 | Catalogues of Fundamental Stars | fifth catalog |
| FM | FM 1 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| FMM | FMM 241 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| FMM | FMM 3 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| FOV | FOV J0040+0125 | rare designator prefixes | survey |
| FOX | FOX 134 | double star designation | discoverer |
| FRB | FRB 121102 | fast radio burst | |
| FRK | FRK 11 | double star designation | discoverer(Franks) |
| Frl | Frl 9 | Fairall Galaxy List | or other abbreviation |
| FS | FS 34 | rare designator prefixes | "faint standard" |
| FSC | FSC 10214+4724 | IRAS | Faint Source Catalog |
| FSO | FSO 5 | rare designator prefixes | used but ambiguous |
| FSP | FSP 103 | rare designator prefixes | flare star constellation |
| FSR | FSR 1758 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| FTM | FTM 0830+3759 | rare designator prefixes | has been used for "F2M 0830+3759" |
| Furuhjelm | Furuhjelm I 285 | rare designator prefixes | aka FI-285, author |
| G | G 67 | rare designator prefixes | has been used for "GV 67" |
| G | G1.9+0.3 | galactic coordinate system | general designator |
| G | G239-25 | Lowell Proper Motion Survey | |
| Gaia | Gaia 1 | Gaia | discoveries |
| GAL | GAL 307 | double star designation | or Gallo 307, discoverer |
| GALEX ASC | GALEX ASC J011136.63+225357.5 | Galaxy Evolution Explorer | or GALEXASC, "all sky catalog" |
| GALFA-Dw | GALFA-Dw4 | rare designator prefixes | GALFA-HI dwarf |
| GAMA | GAMA J141103.98-003242.3 | GAMA | |
| GASS | GASS 3505 | GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey | |
| GAT | GAT 1373 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| GB | GB 881024 | gamma-ray burst | for "GRB 881024" |
| GB1 | GB1 1150+497 | Green Bank 6-cm Radio Source Catalog | GB 1st survey |
| GB2 | GB2 0909+353 | Green Bank 6-cm Radio Source Catalog | GB 2nd survey |
| GB3 | GB3 2043+749 | Green Bank 6-cm Radio Source Catalog | GB 3rd survey |
| GB6 | GB6 J0019+732 | Green Bank 6-cm Radio Source Catalog | 6cm survey |
| GBS | GBS 0525-66 | gamma-ray burst | or GRB, "gamma burst source" |
| GC | GC 0248 + 430 | Green Bank 6-cm Radio Source Catalog | GB C survey |
| GC | GC 138 | New General Catalogue | "General Catalogue" |
| GC | GC 7451 | Boss General Catalog | |
| GCGSS | GCGSS 184 | rare designator prefixes | S-type star, same as CSS |
| GCIRS | GCIRS 13E | rare designator prefixes | "Galactic Center IR source" |
| GCM | GCM-0.02-0.07 | rare designator prefixes | galactic center molecular cloud |
| GCN | GCN 4021 | Gamma-ray Burst Coordinates Network | candidate GRB |
| GCRT | GCRT J1745-3009 | GCRT | |
| GCRV | GCRV 1526 | General Catalogue of Stellar Radial Velocities | |
| GCS | GCS 3 | rare designator prefixes | galactic center source |
| GCSS | GCSS 447 | rare designator prefixes | general catalog of S-type stars |
| GCTP | GCTP 3242.00 | General Catalogue of Trigonometric Parallaxes | |
| GD | GD 356 | Lowell Proper Motion Survey | Giclas dwarf |
| GEV | GEV J1809-2327 | rare designator prefixes | GeV GR sources |
| GF | GF 7 | rare designator prefixes | "globular filament" nebula |
| GGD | GGD 17 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| GH | GH 7-21 | Lowell Proper Motion Survey | Giclas (author), Hyades Cluster |
| GHCG | GHCG 46 | rare designator prefixes | authors, galaxy cluster |
| GHO | GHO 0303+1706 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| GIC | GIC 57 | double star designation | discoverer(Giclas) |
| Giclas | Giclas 9-38 B | Lowell Proper Motion Survey | |
| Ginga | Ginga 2000+25 | Ginga | |
| GJ | GJ 1132 b | Gliese-Jahreiss Catalog | |
| Gl | Gl 1132 b | Gliese Catalogue of Nearby Stars | abbreviated |
| GL | GL 2591 | AFGL Four Color Infrared Sky Survey | short for AFGL 2591 |
| GLARE | GLARE 3011 | GLARE | |
| Glass | Glass R | rare designator prefixes | author |
| GLASS | GLASS-z12 | James Webb Space Telescope | Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space |
| Glazar | Glazar Cru 135 | Glazar | |
| GLE | GLE 2 | double star designation | discoverer(Gale) |
| GLEAM | GLEAM J0917-0012 | GLEAM | |
| GLEAM-X | GLEAM-X J162759.5-523504.3 | GLEAM | extended survey |
| Gliese | Gliese 1132 b | Gliese Catalogue of Nearby Stars | |
| GLIMPSE | GLIMPSE C01 | Spitzer Space Telescope | GLIMPSE survey |
| GLKA | GLKA 577 | rare designator prefixes | laboratory |
| GLMP | GLMP 160 | IRAS | authors |
| GLP | GLP 9 | double star designation | discoverer(Glasenapp) |
| GM | GM 2-39 | rare designator prefixes | authors, PNe |
| GM | GM1-29 | rare designator prefixes | authors, cometary nebulae |
| Gmb | Gmb 3689 | Catalog of Circumpolar Stars | |
| GMP | GMP 2921 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| GMRT | GMRTLH J105432.8+584720 | Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope | |
| GN | GN 00.33.9 | Atlas of Galactic Nebulae | |
| GN | GN-z11 | GOODS-North | |
| GNS | GNS-JD2 | GOODS NICMOS Survey | |
| GNT | GNT 1 | double star designation | discoverer(Grant) |
| GOODS 850 | GOODS 850-8 | rare designator prefixes | field, wavelength |
| GOS | GOS G080.03+00.94 01 | Galactic O Star Catalog | |
| GPS | GPS 1722-363 | EXOSAT | galactic plane survey |
| GPX | GPX-1 b | GPX | |
| GR | GR 0135-08 | rare designator prefixes | obs. RS |
| GR | GR 260 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| GR | GR 31 | rare designator prefixes | cataloger, red dwarfs |
| GR | GR 8 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer's/author |
| GR* | GR* 221 | Lowell Proper Motion Survey | red star |
| GRB | GRB 170817A | gamma-ray burst | general GRB prefix |
| GRO | GRO J1655-40 | Compton Gamma Ray Observatory | |
| Groombridge | Groombridge 1618 | Catalog of Circumpolar Stars | |
| Group | Group 10 | rare designator prefixes | moving group |
| GRS | GRS 1124-683 | GRANAT | |
| GRV | GRV 8 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| GRW | GRW +70 8247 | Astrographic Catalog | Greenwich zone |
| GS | GS 2000+25 | Ginga | for "Ginga satellite" |
| GS | GS 285 | rare designator prefixes | authors, emission nebulae |
| GS | GS 4 | GOODS-South | |
| GSC | GSC 03549-02811 | Guide Star Catalog | |
| GSH | GSH 1 | double star designation | discoverer(Glaisher) |
| GSh | GSh 100-02-41 | rare designator prefixes | or GS 100-02-41, galactic shell |
| GSPC | GSPC S840-F1 | Guide Star Catalog | photometric catalog |
| GSS | GSS 073_1810 | Groth Strip | Groth Strip Survey |
| GSS | GSS 31 | rare designator prefixes | authors, IR sources |
| GT | GT 0236+610 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Gum | Gum 4 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer, emission nebulae |
| GUVV | GUVV J124328.2-055431.7 | Galaxy Evolution Explorer | UV variability |
| GV | GV 67 | rare designator prefixes | "Grande Vitesse" |
| GW | GW 046.4+5.5 | galactic worm | |
| GW | GW170817 | GW detection | |
| GX | GX 339-4 | X-ray source | general for "galactic X-ray source" |
| GY | GY 297 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| GYL | GYL 73 | double star designation | discoverer(Goyal) |
| H | H 2356-309 | HEAO-1 | various surveys on various instruments |
| h | h 3750 | Herschel Double Star Catalog | John Herschel, old designator |
| H | H V 79 | Herschel Double Star Catalog | |
| H | H1-12 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| H | H4043 | High Energy Transient Explorer | mission's ID |
| Had | Had V62 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| Haffner | Haffner 18 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer, open clusters |
| Haro | Haro 4-255 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Haro | Haro 29 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Harvard | Harvard 20 | rare designator prefixes | obs., open clusters |
| HAT | HAT-P-9b | HATNet | |
| HaTr | HaTr 4 | rare designator prefixes | authors, PNe |
| HATS | HATS-2b | HATNet | HAT-South |
| HaWe | HaWe 10 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Hb | Hb 12 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| HB | HB 2124-4228 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| HB | HB 3 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| HB87 | HB87 1602-576 | Hewitt & Burbidge Catalog | |
| HB89 | HB89 2343+125 BX442 | Hewitt & Burbidge Catalog | 1989 addition |
| HB93 | HB93 1429-008 | Hewitt & Burbidge Catalog | 1993 addition |
| HBC | HBC 722 | rare designator prefixes | authors, catalog |
| Hbg | Hbg 1650 | rare designator prefixes | obs. |
| HBK | HBK 0-1 | HBK | |
| HBV | HBV 475 | rare designator prefixes | obs., variable |
| HCG | HCG 92 | Hickson Compact Groups | |
| HD | HD 133131 | Henry Draper Catalog | |
| HDE | HDE 326823 | Henry Draper Catalog | "E" is redundant |
| HDF | HDF 850.1 | Hubble Deep Field | |
| HDFS | HDFS J223249.41-603335.3 | Hubble Deep Field South | |
| HDO | HDO 127 | double star designation | or "Hd 127", Harvard College Observatory |
| HDW | HDW 13 | rare designator prefixes | authors, PNe |
| He | He 2-138 | rare designator prefixes | or "Hen" or "Henize", discoverer, PNe or emission-line stars |
| HE | HE0230-4323 | Hamburg/ESO Survey | |
| HEI | HEI 812 | double star designation | discoverer(Heintz) |
| Heinemann | Heinemann 77 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Herschel | Herschel 2682 | Herschel Double Star Catalog | ambiguous, typically John |
| Herz | Herz 10688 | Herz catalog | |
| Herzog | Herzog 24 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| HESS | HESS J1731-347 | High Energy Stereoscopic System | |
| HETE | HETE J1900.1-2455 | High Energy Transient Explorer | |
| Hf | Hf 69 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer, PNe |
| HFLS | HFLS3 | rare designator prefixes | Herschel FLS field |
| HG | HG 031203 | host galaxy | used for GRB and XRF hosts |
| HG | HG 121102 | fast radio burst | host galaxy of the FRB |
| HG | HG 44 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| HG | HG 7-206 | Lowell Proper Motion Survey | Giclas (author), Hyades Cluster |
| HH | HH 36 | Herbig-Haro object | generic designator |
| HHJ | HHJ 336 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| HHL | HHL 63 | Herbig-Haro object | HH-like |
| HI | HI 1225+01 | intergalactic HI cloud | |
| HIC | HIC 59206 | Hipparcos | input catalog |
| Hickson | Hickson 92 | Hickson Compact Groups | |
| HII | HII 296 | rare designator prefixes | author, ? |
| HIJASS | HIJASS J1133+63 | HI Jodrell All-Sky Survey | |
| Hiltner | Hiltner 102 | rare designator prefixes | or "Hilt", author |
| HIP | HIP 45982 b | Hipparcos | |
| HIPASS | HIPASS J0731-69 | HIPASS | |
| HIZOA | HIZOA J0836-43 | Parkes HI Zone of Avoidance Survey | |
| HIZSS | HIZSS 003 | Parkes HI Zone of Avoidance Survey | "shallow survey" |
| HJ | HJ 342 | Herschel Double Star Catalog | John Herschel |
| HLD | HLD 250 | double star designation | discoverer(E.S. Holden) |
| HLM | HLM 19 | double star designation | discoverer(Holmes) |
| HLN | HLN 18 | double star designation | discoverer(Frank Holden) |
| HLX | HLX-1 | rare designator prefixes | "hyperluminous X-ray source" |
| HM | HM 32 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| HMS | HMS 1247-4102 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| HN | HN 40 | Herschel Double Star Catalog | or "H N 40", W. Herschel 1821 catalog |
| Ho | Ho 14 | rare designator prefixes | or "Hogg 14", open clusters |
| Ho | Ho 229 | double star designation | discoverer(G.W. Hough) |
| Hodge | Hodge 11 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Holm | Holm 15A | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Holmberg | Holmberg II | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| HP | HP 1 | rare designator prefixes | observatory |
| HR | HR 8799 | Bright Star Catalog | normal/preferred |
| HRC | HRC 29 | rare designator prefixes | authors, catalog |
| Hrg | Hrg 107 | double star designation | discoverer(Hargrave) |
| HRG | HRG 54103 | rare designator prefixes | author, ring galaxies |
| HS | HS 1946+7658 | Hamburg Schmidt Survey | |
| HS | HS 327 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| HSC | HSC J0921+0007 | Subaru Telescope | HSC-SSP |
| HSH | HSH95 31 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| HST | HST14176+5226 | Hubble Space Telescope | |
| HtTr | HtTr 2 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Hu | Hu 1-2 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer, PNe |
| Hu | Hu 667 | double star designation | discoverer(Hussey) |
| Hubble | Hubble 5 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| HUDF | HUDF-JD2 | Hubble Ultra-Deep Field | |
| HV | HV 2112 | rare designator prefixes | "Harvard Variable" star catalog |
| HVC | HVC 125+41-207 | high-velocity cloud | general HVC prefix |
| HVS | HVS 2 | hypervelocity star | |
| HW | HW 84 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| HWE | HWE 13 | double star designation | discoverer(H.A. Howe) |
| Hynek | Hynek 1 | double star designation | author |
| HyperLEDA | HyperLEDA 94646 | LEDA | |
| HZ | HZ 9 | rare designator prefixes | discoverers |
| HZG | HZG 2 | double star designation | discoverer(Hertzsprung) |
| I | I 7 | double star designation | discoverer(Innes) |
| I | I19374 | IRAS | short for "IRAS 19374+2359" |
| I Zw | I Zw 18 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | or "1Zw" or 1Z", Volume I |
| IC | IC 342 | Index Catalog | |
| IceCube | IceCube-191001A | IceCube | |
| IDS | IDS 05200+2831 A | Washington Double Star Catalog | Index Catalog of Double Stars |
| IGR | IGR J00158+5605 | INTEGRAL | |
| IGVV | IGVV 96 | Catalogue of Interacting Galaxies | |
| II Zw | II Zw 96 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | or "2Zw" or "2Z", Volume II |
| III Zw | III Zw 2 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | or "3Zw" or "3Z", Volume III |
| IKT | IKT 16 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| IOK | IOK 1 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| IPHAS | IPHAS J214625.99+572829.0 | IPHAS | |
| IPHASX | IPHASX J205013.7+465518 | IPHAS | extended PNe |
| iPTF | iPTF14hls | Palomar Transient Factory | Intermediate Palomar Transient Factory |
| IRAS | IRAS 16399-0937 | IRAS | |
| IRAS F | IRAS F10016+5824 | IRAS | or "IRASF10016+5824", FSC |
| IRC | IRC -10414 | Two Micron Sky Survey | |
| IRc | IRc 2 | rare designator prefixes | IR "compact?" |
| IRDC | IRDC 321.706+0.066 | rare designator prefixes | IR dark cloud |
| IRS | IRS 5 | infrared | IR source |
| IRSV | IRSV 1145-6245 | rare designator prefixes | IR source, obs. |
| ISCS | ISCS J143809+341419 | IRAC Shallow Survey | galaxy clusters |
| ISG | ISG 39 | rare designator prefixes | authors and G for galaxy |
| ISO | ISO 217 | Infrared Space Observatory | |
| ISOHDFS | ISOHDFS 27 | Hubble Deep Field South | "Infrared Source Observation" |
| ISS | ISS J142950.9+333012 | IRAC Shallow Survey | |
| IsWe | IsWe 2 | rare designator prefixes | discoverers, PNe |
| IV Zw | IV Zw 29 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | or "4Zw" or "4Z", Volume IV |
| Ivanov | Ivanov 7 | rare designator prefixes | author, open clusters |
| IVC | IVC 86-36 | high-velocity cloud | intermediate velocity cloud |
| IXO | IXO 76 | ROSAT | intermediate luminosity |
| J | J 900 | double star designation | discoverer(Jonckhèere) |
| J | J162702.56+432833.9 | J designator | epoch J2000.0 |
| Jacoby | Jacoby LMC 34 | rare designator prefixes | author, PNe |
| JADES | JADES-GS-z13-0 | James Webb Space Telescope | JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey |
| JaFu | JaFu 2 | rare designator prefixes | discoverers, PNe |
| JC | JC 2 | double star designation | or "Jac 2", discoverer(Jacob) |
| JEF | JEF 1 | double star designation | discoverer(Jeffers) |
| JL | JL 87 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Jonckhèere | Jonckhèere 320 | rare designator prefixes | or "J 320", discoverer |
| JOY | JOY 1 | double star designation | discoverer(Joy) |
| JSP | JSP 561 | double star designation | discoverer(Jessup) |
| Juchert | Juchert 9 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer, open clusters |
| JVAS | JVAS B1938+666 | rare designator prefixes | observatories |
| JW | JW 566 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| K | K 13 | rare designator prefixes | or Kg or King(discoverer), open clusters |
| K | K 4-55 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer, PNe |
| K | K5 | King Catalog | |
| K2 | K2-3b | K2 | |
| Karhula | Karhula 11 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer, open clusters |
| KAT | KAT7HI J103151-345117 | MeerKAT | KAT-7 |
| Kazarian | Kazarian 26 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| KDG | KDG 52 | rare designator prefixes | author's initial and DG for "dwarf galaxy" |
| KELT | KELT-10 | KELT | |
| Kepler | Kepler-186f | Kepler Telescope | confirmed planet |
| Kesteven | Kesteven 69 | rare designator prefixes | or "KE" or "Kes", galactic radio sources |
| KFL | KFL 19 | rare designator prefixes | or "KnFs", authors, PNe |
| KH | KH 24D | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Kh | Kh 527 | rare designator prefixes | Khavtasi(author) |
| Kharchenko | Kharchenko 2 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer, open clusters |
| KHG | KHG 1-9 | rare designator prefixes | authors, galaxy |
| KIC | KIC 8462852 | Kepler Telescope | input catalog |
| KIG | KIG 993 | rare designator prefixes | isolated galaxies |
| King | King 5 | King Catalog | |
| KjPn | KjPn 8 | rare designator prefixes | authors, PNe |
| KK | KK 230 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| KKH | KKH 060 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| KKR | KKR 25 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| KKS | KKS 3 | rare designator prefixes | authors, "supplement" |
| Klemola | Klemola 44 | rare designator prefixes | or "Klem", galaxy clusters |
| KMS | KMS 35 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| KMT | KMT-2016-BLG-1397Lb | Korea Microlensing Telescope Network | |
| KNT | KNT 4 | double star designation | or Kn or Knott(discoverer) |
| KO | KO 2 | rare designator prefixes | or "Koelbloed" |
| KO | KO 2 | double star designation | or Koenigstuhl(observatory) |
| KOI | KOI-571.05 | Kepler Telescope | Kepler object of interest |
| Koposov | Koposov 2 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer, globular clusters |
| KP | KP 199 | rare designator prefixes | observatory |
| KPD | KPD 1930+2752 | rare designator prefixes | Kitt Peak & author initial |
| KPG | KPG 572 | rare designator prefixes | author, galaxy pairs |
| KPNO-Tau | KPNO-Tau 3 | rare designator prefixes | observatory, constellation |
| Kr | Kr 1-2 | rare designator prefixes | Krasnogorskaja(author) |
| KR | KR 17 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| KR | KR 60 | double star designation | or Kruger(Krüger, discoverer) |
| Kron | Kron 3 | rare designator prefixes | author, globular clusters |
| Kronberger | Kronberger 61 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer, stellar clusters |
| KS | KS 1947+300 | Kvant 1 | |
| KU | KU 3 | double star designation | discoverer(Kustner) |
| Ku | Ku 648 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| KUG | KUG 1210+301B | Kiso Survey of Ultraviolet Excess Galaxies | |
| KUI | KUI 75 | double star designation | or Kpr, author(Kuiper) |
| KUV | KUV 410-4 | rare designator prefixes | Kondo (author) or Kiso (obs.), UV excess |
| KW | KW 365 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| KZP | KZP 410 | New Catalogue of Suspected Variable Stars | same as "CSV 410" |
| L | L 143-23 | rare designator prefixes | 1940s Luyten surveys |
| L | L 15 | double star designation | discoverer(Lewis) |
| Lac | Lac 9352 | Lacaille Star Catalog | |
| Lacaille | Lacaille 9352 | Lacaille Star Catalog | |
| LAE | LAE J095950.99+021219.1 | Lyman-alpha emitter | general prefix for LAEs |
| Laevens | Laevens 2 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| LAL | LAL 21185 | rare designator prefixes | or "Lal", for "Lalande" |
| Lalande | Lalande 21185 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| LAM | LAM 5 | double star designation | discoverer(Lamont) |
| LAMOST | LAMOST J12280490-014825.7 | LAMOST | |
| Lanning | Lanning 386 | rare designator prefixes | or "Lan 386", author |
| Latysev | Latysev 2 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer(moving group) |
| LAU | LAU 1 | double star designation | discoverer |
| LAWD | LAWD 13 | rare designator prefixes | Luyten (author), white dwarfs |
| LB | LB 1479 | rare designator prefixes | Luyten "blue" |
| LBDS | LBDS 53W91 | rare designator prefixes | survey |
| LBG | LBG J213512.73-010143 | Lyman-break galaxy | general prefix for LBGs |
| LBN | LBN 1976 | Lynds Catalogue of Bright Nebulae | |
| LBQS | LBQS 1429-008 | Large Bright QSO Survey | |
| LBV | LBV 1806-20 | luminous blue variable | possibly the only use as a prefix |
| LCDCS | LCDCS 0829 | rare designator prefixes | survey |
| LCL | LCL 120 AB | Lacaille Star Catalog | Washington Double Star Catalog code |
| LCRS | LCRS B035620.1-420206 | Las Campanas Redshift Survey | |
| LD | LD 355 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| LDN | LDN 1689 | Lynds Catalog of Dark Nebulae | or "L 1689" or "Lynds 1689" |
| LDS | LDS 131 A | Luyten Double Star Survey | |
| Le Gentil | Le Gentil 2 | rare designator prefixes | nebulae |
| LEDA | LEDA 42102 | LEDA | |
| LEHPM | LEHPM 1902 | rare designator prefixes | Liverpool-Edinburgh high PM |
| LEO | LEO 34 | double star designation | or Leon(discoverer) |
| LESS | LESS J033136.0-275439 | LABOCA Extended Chandra Deep Field-South Submillimetre Survey | |
| LFAM | LFAM 5 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| LFT | LFT 833 | Luyten Half-second Catalog | 1955 version |
| LGG | LGG 384 | rare designator prefixes | obs., galaxy groups |
| LGGS | LGGS J004444.52+412804.0 | Local Group Galaxy Survey | |
| LGS | LGS 3 | rare designator prefixes | "Local Group, Suspected" |
| LH | LH 10 | rare designator prefixes | OB association, authors |
| LH | LH 10-3209 | rare designator prefixes | star within LH 10 association |
| LHA | LHA 120-N 103B | rare designator prefixes | (or "LHα 120-N 103B") obs., Hα emission nebulae |
| LHG | LHG 87 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| LHO | LHO 110 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| LHS | LHS 1140 | Luyten Half-second Catalog | |
| LI | LI-LMC 60 | IRAS | "Leiden IRAS" |
| LID | LID 607005 | LAMOST | ID number |
| LIN | LIN 9 | rare designator prefixes | or "Lindsay 9", author |
| Lindsay | Lindsay 11 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| LINEAR | LINEAR 10 | LINEAR | |
| LkCa | LkCa 15 | rare designator prefixes | observatory, Ca emission-line |
| LkCl | LkCl-15 | Lick Observatory Calcium Line Survey | |
| LkHA | LkHA 101 | rare designator prefixes | or LkHα or LkH, obs. Hα |
| LM | LM 1-52 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| LMC AB | LMC AB 12 | rare designator prefixes | LMC & authors |
| LMC | LMC S22 | Large Magellanic Cloud | general for LMC objects |
| LMC-N | LMC-N11 | rare designator prefixes | (or just "N 11") LMC, north |
| Lo | Lo 4 | rare designator prefixes | or Longmore(author) PNe |
| Lo | Lo 807 | rare designator prefixes | or Loden(author) |
| LoTr | LoTr 5 | rare designator prefixes | authors, PNe |
| LP | LP 731-58 | Luyten Palomar Survey | |
| LP | LP26 | rare designator prefixes | galaxy "Leo P" |
| LPM | LPM 101 | Bruce Proper Motion Survey | 1941 list |
| LPO | LPO 25 | double star designation | observatory |
| LQG | LQG 1 | large quasar group | general term |
| LS | LS IV-14 116 | Case-Hamburg Survey | |
| LSB | LSB 568-1 | rare designator prefixes | LSB galaxy |
| LSE | LSE 239 | Case-Hamburg Survey | extension |
| LSPM | LSPM J0207+333 | Lépine Shara Proper Motion catalog | |
| LSQ | LSQ14bdq | LaSilla-QUEST Variability Survey | |
| LSR | LSR J0822+1700 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| LSS | LSS 4067 | Case-Hamburg Survey | southern Milky Way |
| LT | LT 36 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| LTT | LTT 17897 | Luyten Two-Tenths Arcsecond Catalog | |
| Luhman | Luhman 16 | rare designator prefixes | (or LUH) discoverer |
| Lund | Lund 803 | Lund Catalogue of Open Clusters | |
| Lupus | Lupus-TR-3b | Lupus Transit Survey | |
| LUY | LUY 6219 | double star designation | discoverer |
| LVC | LVC 127 127+20-3 | high-velocity cloud | low velocity cloud |
| LW | LW 55 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Ly | Ly 6 | rare designator prefixes | (or "Lynga 6") discoverer, stellar clusters |
| M | M 183 | rare designator prefixes | author, variables |
| M | M1-92 | rare designator prefixes | or Mi1-92, Min1-92, or Mink1-92, author(Minkowski) |
| M | M85-HCC1 | Messier Catalog | galaxy near M85 |
| M | M87 | Messier Catalog | |
| M31GC | M31GC J004246+411737 | rare designator prefixes | M31 GC |
| M31N | M31N 2008-12a | rare designator prefixes | M31 nova |
| M33 | M33-013406.63 | Triangulum Galaxy | M33 star |
| M82 | M82 X-1 | M82 | X-ray source |
| MA | MA 1 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| MacC | MacC H12 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| MACHO | MACHO-LMC-4 | MACHO Project | |
| MACS | MACS J0025.4-1222 | Massive Cluster Survey | |
| MACS | MACS J0057-734 10 | Magellanic Catalogue of Stars | |
| MADCASH | MADCASH-2 | Magellanic Analog Dwarf Companions And Stellar Halos | |
| Maffei | Maffei 1 | rare designator prefixes | author name |
| Magakian | Magakian 770 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| MAGIC | MAGIC J1837-073 | MAGIC | |
| Mailyan | Mailyan 29 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Malin | Malin 1 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| Mamajek | Mamajek 3 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| Mark | Mark 335 | Markarian galaxy | |
| Markarian | Markarian 335 | Markarian galaxy | |
| Markarian | Markarian 6 | rare designator prefixes | open clusters, author |
| MASCARA | MASCARA-1b | MASCARA | |
| MaxBCG | MaxBCG J217.95869+13.53470 | rare designator prefixes | MLE BCG |
| MAXI | MAXI J0556-332 | MAXI | |
| Mayall | Mayall II | rare designator prefixes | used in 1953 paper |
| Mayer | Mayer 2 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| MB | MB 3 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| MBM | MBM 18 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| MC | MC 76 | rare designator prefixes | Magellanic Cloud |
| MCA | MCA 14 | double star designation | discoverer |
| MCA | MCA 2 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| MCC | MCC 481 | rare designator prefixes | obs. |
| MCG | MCG +8-11-11 | Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies | |
| MCL | MCL 52 | Catalog of Southern Groups of Galaxies | |
| MCLD | MCLD 126.6+24.5 | molecular cloud | rarely used |
| MCS | MCS 294 | rare designator prefixes | univ., telescope |
| MCT | MCT 0309-2730 | rare designator prefixes | orgs. |
| MCW | MCW 1179 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| MDS | MDS uem0-043 | Medium Deep Survey | |
| Me | Me 2-1 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer, PNe |
| Mel | Mel 25 | Melotte Catalog | |
| Melb | Melb 3 | double star designation | Melbourne Obs. discovery |
| Melnick | Melnick 42 | rare designator prefixes | or "Mk 42", author |
| Melotte | Melotte 25 | Melotte Catalog | |
| MENeaCS | MENeaCS Abell2033-5-19-0 | Multi-Epoch Nearby Cluster Survey | |
| Mercer | Mercer 81 | rare designator prefixes | author, stellar clusters |
| Messier | Messier 87 | Messier Catalog | |
| MeWe | MeWe 1-3 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| MG | MG 1131+0456 | rare designator prefixes | inst., obs. |
| MG | MG 118 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| MGC | MGC 27301 | Millennium Galaxy Catalogue | |
| MGC | MGC1 | rare designator prefixes | for "Martin Globular Cluster", Nicolas Martin, primary author |
| MGG | MGG 9 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| MGRO | MGRO J1908+06 | Milagro | |
| MHA | MHA 271-34 | rare designator prefixes | or "MHα 271-34" (author, Hα) |
| MHO | MHO 8 | rare designator prefixes | or "MHO-Tau 8", obs. |
| MIL | MIL 1 | double star designation | discoverer |
| Mills | Mills 19+4 | Badgerys Creek Interferometer 101-MHz Survey | |
| Mis | Mis V1287 | MISAO project | |
| Mkn | Mkn 335 | Markarian galaxy | |
| MKW | MKW 10 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| MLB | MLB 1 | double star designation | discoverer |
| MlbO | MlbO 4 | double star designation | Melbourne Obs. discovery |
| MLF | MLF 2 | double star designation | discoverer |
| MLO | MLO 4 | double star designation | Melbourne Obs. discovery |
| MLR | MLR 391 | double star designation | discoverer |
| MOA | MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb | MOA | |
| MORA | MORA-2 | MORA | |
| MP | MP J0000-3556 | USS Sources | data from MRC and PMN |
| MR | MR 2251-178 | rare designator prefixes | maybe for MIT Ricker? |
| MR | MR 93 | rare designator prefixes | or "Roberts 93", Wolf-Rayet stars |
| MRC | MRC 2104-242 | Molonglo Reference Catalog | |
| Mrk | Mrk 335 | Markarian galaxy | |
| MS | MS 0735.6+7421 | HEAO-2 | Medium Sensitivity survey |
| MSH | MSH 05-22 | MSH Catalog | |
| MSP | MSP 183 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| MSX | MSX 6C G160.2784-18.4216 | Midcourse Space Experiment | |
| MTL | MTL 2CD | double star designation | discoverer |
| MUNICS | MUNICS S7F5 254 | Munich Near-Infrared Cluster Survey | |
| MWC | MWC 349 | rare designator prefixes | "Mount Wilson Catalog" |
| MX | MX 1716-31 | OSO 7 | MIT Cat X-ray sources |
| MXB | MXB 1658-298 | MIT X-ray Burst Source Catalog | |
| MyCn | MyCn 26 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Mz | Mz 3 | rare designator prefixes | or "Menzel 3", author |
| N | N 164 | rare designator prefixes | abbreviated from LHA 120-N 64 |
| N | N Her 2021 | nova | abbreviated |
| N30 | N30 2 | N30 Catalog | |
| Na | Na 2 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| NAB | NAB 0205+024 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| NB | NB 79.1 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| NDWFS | NDWFS J1426+3531 | NOAO Deep Wide-field Survey | |
| NeVe | NeVe 3-4 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| New | New 1 | Shapley-Ames Catalog | new in updated catalog |
| NG | NG 0522-2518 017220 | NGTS | |
| NGC | NGC 3603-A1a | New General Catalogue | star within cluster NGC 3603 |
| NGC | NGC 253 | New General Catalogue | |
| NGTS | NGTS-1b | NGTS | |
| NH | NH 84 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| NLTT | NLTT 6655 | Luyten Two-Tenths Arcsecond Catalog | later replacement |
| NML | NML Cygni | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| NOMAD1 | NOMAD1 1243-0140899 | NOMAD | |
| Nova | Nova Herculis 2021 | nova | |
| NPM1G | NPM1G -10.0586 | rare designator prefixes | n. proper motion, 1st galaxy list |
| NRAO | NRAO 620 | NRAO Catalog | |
| NS | NS 3 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| NSV | NSV 11288 | New Catalogue of Suspected Variable Stars | |
| NSVS | NSVS 14256825 | ROTSE | Northern Sky variability survey |
| NTTS | NTTS 034903+2431 | rare designator prefixes | "naked TTS" |
| NuSTAR | NuSTAR J100259+0220.5 | NuSTAR | |
| NVSS | NVSS J093731-102001a | NRAO VLA Sky Survey | |
| NZO | NZO 52 | double star designation | observatory |
| O | OA 084 | Ohio Radio Survey | prefix "OHIO" later adopted |
| OΣ | OΣ65 | Struve Catalogs | younger Struve |
| OΣΣ | OΣΣ123 | Struve Catalogs | younger Struve appendix |
| OAO | OAO 1653-40 | Orbiting Astronomical Observatory | |
| Ocl | Ocl-89 | rare designator prefixes | open clusters |
| OGC | OGC 596 | Ogle Galaxy Catalog | |
| OGLE | OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb | OGLE | |
| OH | OH 26.5+0.6 | hydroxyl | OH source |
| OHIO | OHIO A 084 | Ohio Radio Survey | |
| OL | OL 244 | double star designation | discoverer |
| OMC | OMC-1 | Orion Molecular Cloud Complex | for "Orion Molecular Cloud" |
| Onsala | Onsala 2 | rare designator prefixes | or "ON 2", obs. |
| Oo | Oo 2311 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| OPI | OPI 2 | double star designation | discoverer |
| OT | OT 120926 | optical transient | |
| OTL | OTL 0208+183 | rare designator prefixes | telescope, lunar occultation |
| OTS | OTS 44 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| OTS | OTS 1809+314 | optical transient | OT source |
| P | P871 | rare designator prefixes | author initial |
| P-L | 6344 P-L | Palomar-Leiden Survey | |
| PA | PA-00-S3 | POINT-AGAPE | |
| Pal | Pal 15 | Palomar Globular Clusters | or "Cl Pal 15" |
| Palomar | Palomar 15 | Palomar Globular Clusters | or "Cl Palomar 15" |
| PAndAS | PAndAS-8 | PAndAS | |
| Par | Par 21 | Parsamian Nebula Catalog | |
| Parenago | Parenago 2649 | rare designator prefixes | or "P 2649", author |
| Parsamian | Parsamian 21 | Parsamian Nebula Catalog | |
| PB | PB 10 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| PB | PB 8783 | rare designator prefixes | obs., author |
| PC | PC 1247+3406 | Palomar high-redshift quasar surveys | |
| PC | PC 22 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| PDS | PDS 70 | Pico dos Dias Survey | |
| Pe | Pe 1-4 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Pellet | Pellet 550 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Pfleiderer | Pfleiderer 2 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| PG | PG 0052+251 | Palomar-Green Survey | |
| PGC | PGC 63287 | Principal Galaxies Catalog | |
| PH | PH1 | Planet Hunters | aka PH1b |
| PHL | PHL 293B | Palomar-Haro-Luyten Catalog | |
| PHR | PHR J1510-6754 | MASH Catalog of Planetary Nebulae | for discoverers |
| Pis | Pis 20 | rare designator prefixes | or Pi or Pismis(discoverer) |
| PK | PK 63+13.1 | Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae | or "PLN 63+13.1" |
| PKS | PKS 0130-17 | Parkes Catalog | |
| Platais | Platais 1 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| PLQ | PLQ 3 | double star designation | or Paloque(discoverer) |
| PLX | PLX 695 | General Catalogue of Trigonometric Parallaxes | |
| PM | PM 1-173 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| PMC | PMC 90-93 957 | Tokyo Photoelectric Meridian Circle | catalog |
| PMMR | PMMR 62 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| PMN | PMN J0006-0623 | Parkes-MIT-NRAO Surveys | |
| PN | PN G315.4-08.4 | planetary nebula | general planetary nebula prefix |
| PNG | PNG 215.5-30.8 | Strasbourg-ESO Catalog of Galactic Planetary Nebulae | for "Planetary Nebulae Galactic" |
| PNV | PNV J00434013+4127123 | rare designator prefixes | possible nova |
| POINT-AGAPE | POINT-AGAPE-S3 | POINT-AGAPE | |
| POL | POL 4 | double star designation | discoverer |
| POTS | POTS-1b | Pre-OmegaTranS | |
| POU | POU 1931 | double star designation | discoverer |
| POX | POX 52 | rare designator prefixes | obs., object |
| PP | PP 11 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| PPL | PPL 1 | rare designator prefixes | "possible Pleiades" candidates |
| PPM | PPM 164850 | PPM Star Catalogue | |
| PQ | PQOT015849-022627 | Palomar 48 Inch Telescope | Palomar-Quest Survey |
| PQT | PQT 070519 | Palomar 48 Inch Telescope | Palomar-Quest Survey |
| Pr | Pr0201 | rare designator prefixes | for open cluster Praesepe |
| PRC | PRC D-51 | Polar-ring Catalog | |
| PRY | PRY 3 | double star designation | discoverer |
| PRZ | PRZ 3 | double star designation | discoverer |
| PS | PS 130 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| PS | PS 336 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| PS1 | PS1-10jh | Pan-STARRS | PS1-discovered transients |
| PSC | PSC 09104+4109 | IRAS | Point Source Catalog |
| PSN | PSN J16590286+2754556 | rare designator prefixes | possible SN |
| PSO | PSO J246.4222+15.4698 | Pan-STARRS | |
| PSR | PSR 1257+12 | pulsar | "PSR" used for any pulsar irrespective of catalog |
| PSS | PSS J0052+2405 | rare designator prefixes | from POSS-II |
| PTF | PTF09dah | Palomar Transient Factory | |
| PTFO | PTFO 8-8695 | Palomar Transient Factory | Orion project |
| PTT | PTT 19 | double star designation | discoverer |
| PWM | PWM 2 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| PZ | PZ 4 | double star designation | discoverer |
| Q | Q0051-279 | quasar | abbreviated general prefix |
| Q | Q1623-BX511 | rare designator prefixes | near a quasar |
| Qatar | Qatar-4b | Qatar Exoplanet Survey | |
| QP | QP 0114-3140 | rare designator prefixes | quasar pair |
| QQ | QQ2345+007 | rare designator prefixes | double quasar |
| QQQ | QQQ J1432-0106 | rare designator prefixes | triple quasar |
| QSO | QSO B1957+405 | quasar | general prefix |
| QSR | QSR J1819+3845 | quasar | general for "radio-loud quasar" |
| Quasar | Quasar J192748.6+735802 | quasar | general prefix |
| R | R 230 | double star designation | or "Russ 230", discoverer(Russell) |
| R | R136 | Radcliffe Observatory Magellanic Clouds Catalogue | abbreviated |
| Raab | Raab 19 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| RAFGL | RAFGL 5081 | AFGL Four Color Infrared Sky Survey | 1980s enlarged revision |
| RAT | RAT J0455+1305 | rare designator prefixes | rapid temporal |
| RB | RB 199 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| RBS | RBS 78 | Rosat Bright Survey | |
| RC | RC J1148+0455 | rare designator prefixes | RATAN cold |
| RCG | RCG 22a | Abell Catalog | |
| RCS | RCS J022434-0002.5 | rare designator prefixes | Red-Sequence Cluster Survey |
| RCW | RCW 36 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| RD | RD1 | dropout | general for "red dropout" |
| RDCS | RDCS 1252.-2927 | ROSAT | Deep Cluster survey |
| RE | RE J0317-853 | ROSAT | ROSAT EUV |
| Reipurth | Reipurth 50 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Renson | Renson 570 | rare designator prefixes | "General catalogue of Ap and Am Stars" |
| Reticulum | Reticulum II Dwarf | rare designator prefixes | constellation name |
| RFGC | RFGC 2946 | rare designator prefixes | catalog |
| RG | RG 0044-2958 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| RGB | RGB J0152+017 | RASS/Green Bank Catalog | |
| RGG | RGG 118 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| RGZ | RGZ J103435.8+251817 | Radio Galaxy Zoo | |
| RHS | RHS 03 | Rosat Hard Survey | |
| Riddle | Riddle 4 | rare designator prefixes | open clusters |
| RL | RL 128 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| RLWT | RLWT 41 | rare designator prefixes | or "RWT 41", authors |
| RMB | RMB 56 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| RMC | RMC 136 | Radcliffe Observatory Magellanic Clouds Catalogue | |
| RMK | RMK 13 | double star designation | discoverer |
| RNO | RNO 6 | rare designator prefixes | red nebulous object |
| Ro | Ro 4 | rare designator prefixes | or Roslund, open clusters |
| ROA | ROA 5701 | rare designator prefixes | obs. |
| Rob | Rob 270 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| ROB | ROB 48 | rare designator prefixes | obs. "bulletin" |
| ROE | ROE 47 | double star designation | discoverer |
| Roque | Roque 25 | rare designator prefixes | obs. |
| Rose | Rose 14 author | rare designator prefixes | |
| Ross | Ross 154 | Frank Ross's Catalog | |
| ROTSE | ROTSE3 J222115.63+403454.8 | ROTSE | |
| ROX | ROXs 12b | Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex | |
| RR | RR 210 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| RRAT | RRAT J1819-1458 | rotating radio transient | |
| RS | RS 13 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| RSGC | RSGC1 | red supergiant cluster | |
| RSGC | RSGC1-F02 | red supergiant cluster | member of RSGC1 |
| RST | RST 127 | double star designation | or Rossiter(discoverer) |
| Ru | Ru 7 | rare designator prefixes | or "Rup 7" or "Ruprecht 7", open clusters |
| Ruiz | Ruiz 440-469 | rare designator prefixes | or "ESO 440-469", author |
| RX | RX J0720.4-3125 | ROSAT | ROSAT observation |
| RXC | RXC J0516.6-5430 | ROSAT | galaxy cluster |
| S | S 35 | Sharpless Catalog | short for Sh2-35 |
| S | S 451 | double star designation | or "South 451", discoverer |
| S3MC | S3MC 00541-7319 | Spitzer Space Telescope | SMC survey |
| S5 | S5 0014+813 | Strong Source Surveys | |
| S5 | S5-HVS1 | Southern Stellar Stream Spectroscopic Survey | |
| Sa | Sa 1-5 | rare designator prefixes | or "PN Sa 1-5" |
| SA | SA 107-970 | rare designator prefixes | "selected area" |
| Sa | Sa 156 | rare designator prefixes | or "Sandqvist 156", dark nebulae |
| SACS | SACS 178 | rare designator prefixes | stars |
| SAGE | SAGE1CJ053634.78-722658.5 | SAGE | |
| SAN | SAN 47 | rare designator prefixes | or "SAND", author |
| SAND | SAND364 | rare designator prefixes | or "Sanders 364" or "NGC 2682 Sand 364" |
| SAO | SAO 75144 | SAO Star Catalog | |
| SaSt | SaSt 2-10 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Saurer | Saurer 1 | rare designator prefixes | open clusters |
| SaWe | SaWe 4 | rare designator prefixes | PNe |
| SAX | SAX J1750.8-2900 | BeppoSAX | |
| SB | SB 2 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| SB | SB 290 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| SB | SB-WF 3572-1508 | rare designator prefixes | Hubble Deep Field South SB field |
| SBS | SBS 0335-052 | Second Byurakan Survey | |
| SC | SC 0627-544 | rare designator prefixes | southern cluster |
| Schoenberg | Schoenberg 205/6 | rare designator prefixes | dark nebulae |
| SCJ | SCJ 7 | double star designation | discoverer |
| SCl | SCl 117 | supercluster | general |
| SCM | SCM 192 | rare designator prefixes | PNe |
| SCP | SCP 06F6 | Supernova Cosmology Project | |
| SCR | SCR J1546-5534 | SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey | SuperCOSMOS-RECONS nearby star |
| SDF | SDF J132418.3+271455 | Subaru Deep Field | |
| SDSS | SDSS 1346-0031 | Sloan Digital Sky Survey | |
| SDSSp | SDSSp J104433.04-012502.2 | Sloan Digital Sky Survey | "provisory" |
| SE | SE 1 | double star designation | discoverer(Secchi) |
| SEE | SEE 53 | double star designation | or λl, discoverer(See) |
| Segue | Segue 2 | Sloan Digital Sky Survey | SEGUE discovery |
| SEI | SEI 1007 | double star designation | discoverer |
| Sersic | Sersic 129-01 | rare designator prefixes | or "Ser 129-01", author |
| Sextans | Sextans Dwarf Sph | rare designator prefixes | constellation name |
| SFO | SFO 68 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| SGR | SGR 0418+5729 | soft gamma repeater | general for "SGRs" |
| SGRS | SGRS J0331-7710 | rare designator prefixes | survey giant RS |
| Sh | Sh 228 | Herschel Double Star Catalog | John Herschel/James South |
| Sh1 | Sh1-89 | Sharpless Catalog | 1st catalog |
| Sh2 | Sh2-106 | Sharpless Catalog | or "Sharpless 106" or "Sh 106" |
| Shajn | Shajn 147 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Shakhbazian | Shakhbazian 26 | rare designator prefixes | or "Shk 26" or "ShCG 26", author |
| ShAl | ShAl 48 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Shapley | Shapley II | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| SHB | SHB 1 | double star designation | discoverer |
| Sher | Sher 25 | rare designator prefixes | or "Sh 25", author |
| SHJ | SHJ 44 | Herschel Double Star Catalog | John Herschel/James South |
| Shk | Shk 4 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| SHOC | SHOC 053 | rare designator prefixes | survey ionized hydrogen O |
| SHS | SHS J163417.5-460852 | SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey | SuperCOSMOS H-alpha survey |
| Simeis | Simeis 129 | rare designator prefixes | or "Simeiz 129" or "S 129", obs. |
| SIMP | SIMP J013656.5+093347 | SIMP | |
| SIPS | SIPS1259-4336 | rare designator prefixes | catalog from 2MASS data |
| Siv | Siv 10 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Sk | Sk -68 137 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| SKHB | SKHB 1 | SKHB | authors |
| SKI | SKI 4 | double star designation | discoverer |
| SL | SL 268 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| SL | SL 39 | rare designator prefixes | or "Sandqvist 39", authors |
| SL | SL 9 | rare designator prefixes | discoverers |
| SLR | SLR 1 | double star designation | discoverer |
| SLX | SLX 1732-304 | rare designator prefixes | Spacelab X-ray |
| Sm | Sm 15 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| SM | SM0313 | SkyMapper Southern Survey | abbreviated form |
| SMA | SMA 101 | double star designation | discoverer |
| SMACS | SMACS J0304.3-4401 | Massive Cluster Survey | southern extension |
| SMC AB | SMC AB 6 | rare designator prefixes | SMC, authors |
| SMC | SMC 018136 | rare designator prefixes | survey of galaxy |
| SMC-N | SMC-N66 | rare designator prefixes | galaxy, nebula |
| Smethells | Smethells 15 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| SMM | SMM J02399-0136 | submillimeter galaxy designator | "submillimeter" |
| SMP | SMP LMC 11 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| SMSS | SMSS J031300.36-670839.3 | SkyMapper Southern Survey | |
| SMY | SMY 4 | double star designation | discoverer |
| SN | SN UDS10Wil | supernova | |
| SNF | SNF20080514-002 | Nearby Supernova Factory | |
| SNLS | SNLS-03D1aw | Supernova Legacy Survey | |
| SNR | SNR G111.7-02.1 | supernova remnant | |
| SO | SO025300.5+165258 | rare designator prefixes | maybe "Skymorph object" or "stellar object" |
| SP | SP 1 | rare designator prefixes | author, PNe |
| SP77 | SP77 46-44 | rare designator prefixes | (or SP) authors, publication year |
| SpARCS | SpARCS J003550-431224 | Spitzer Space Telescope | SpARCS survey |
| SPIRITS | SPIRITS14bsb | SPIRITS | |
| SPOCS | SPOCS 1001 | Spectroscopic Properties of Cool Stars | |
| SPS | SPS J162357.69+262830.2 | rare designator prefixes | STIS parallel survey |
| SPT | SPT 0243-49 | South Pole Telescope | galaxy |
| SPT-CL | SPT-CL J0546-5345 | South Pole Telescope | galaxy cluster |
| SR | SR 12 | rare designator prefixes | paper by Struve & Rudkjøbing of stars in Ophiuchus and Scorpius clouds |
| SRGA | SRGA J204318.2+443815 | Spektr-RG | ARX-XC discovery |
| SRGE | SRGE J003602.3+605421 | eROSITA | |
| SRS | SRS 30232 | rare designator prefixes | astrometry |
| SS | SS 199 II | rare designator prefixes | or "SS II 199", authors |
| SS | SS 2883 | Case-Hamburg Survey | southern Milky Way |
| SS | SS 433 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| SSA | SSA22-HCM1 | rare designator prefixes | "small selected area" |
| SSS | SSS120810 | Catalina Sky Survey | observatory, SN |
| SSS | SSS17a | Swope Supernova Survey | |
| SSSPM | SSSPM J1549-3544 | SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey | SSS Proper Motion star |
| SST | SST24 J1434110+331733 | Spitzer Space Telescope | |
| SSV | SSV 63 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| ST | ST 1 | double star designation | discoverer |
| ST | ST 4 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| ST | ST5-31 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Stein | Stein 2031 | double star designation | discoverer |
| Steph | Steph 762 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| STF | STF2740 | Struve Catalogs | elder Struve WDS code |
| STH | STH 2 | double star designation | or H 2, discoverer(H. Struve) |
| StHA | StHA 169 | rare designator prefixes | author, H-alpha emitting stars |
| STIS | STIS 123627+621755 | rare designator prefixes | Hubble Space Telescope STIS instrument |
| StKM | StKM 1-762 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| STN | STN 2 | double star designation | discoverer(Stone) |
| Stock | Stock 2 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Str | Str 0431-616 | Duus-Newell catalog | |
| STR | STR 0625-540 | rare designator prefixes | obs. |
| Strand | Strand 64 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Stromlo | Stromlo 16 | rare designator prefixes | or "Gum 16" |
| StRS | StRS 371 | rare designator prefixes | author, reddened star |
| Struve | Struve 1 | Struve Catalogs | ambiguous |
| STT | STT65 | Struve Catalogs | younger Struve WDS code |
| STTA | STTA 123 AB | Struve Catalogs | younger Struve appendix |
| StWr | StWr 2-8 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| SUMSS | SUMSS J053215-673308 | MOST | survey |
| SuWt | SuWt 2 | rare designator prefixes | or "SchuWe 2", authors |
| SVS | SVS 13 | rare designator prefixes | authors, ambiguous |
| SVS | SVS 1754 | rare designator prefixes | Soviet variable star |
| SW | SW 77 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| SWEEPS | SWEEPS-16 | Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search | |
| SWI | SWI 1 | double star designation | discoverer |
| Swift | Swift J1745-26 | Swift | |
| SWIRE | SWIRE J022550.67-042142 | Spitzer Space Telescope | SWIRE survey |
| SXDF | SXDF-NB1006-2 | Subaru XMM-Newton Deep Survey | in SXDS field |
| SXP | SXP 15.3 | rare designator prefixes | SMC X-ray pulsar |
| SYO | SYO 1 | double star designation | Sydney Observatory |
| Sz | Sz 68 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Tamura | Tamura 8 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| TAP | TAP 26 | Taurus-Auriga Complex | or Perseus Complex |
| TASV | TASV 1812+40 | rare designator prefixes | magazine, "suspected variable" |
| TAV | TAV 0033+59 | rare designator prefixes | magazine, "variable" |
| TBHD | TBHD J225810+1418.5 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| TBJ | TBJ 1 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| TCP | TCP J05074264+2447555 b | rare designator prefixes | transient |
| TD1 | TD1 31205 | TD-1A | |
| Teide | Teide 1 | rare designator prefixes | obs. |
| Terz | Terz V 2118 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Terzan | Terzan 5 | rare designator prefixes | or "Ter 5", author |
| Teutsch | Teutsch 126 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| TGSS | TGSS J1530+1049 | Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope | TIFR GMRT sky survey |
| TGU | TGU H1192 | rare designator prefixes | university |
| Th | Th 2-C | rare designator prefixes | author Pik-Sin Thé |
| THA | THA 15-28 | rare designator prefixes | author, H-alpha |
| TIC | TIC 410451752 | Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite | input catalog |
| TJ | TJ 4 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| TMSS | TMSS -10122 | Two Micron Sky Survey | |
| Tmz | Tmz V124 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| TN | TN J0924-2201 | USS Sources | data from TXS and NVSS |
| TOI | TOI 700 d | Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite | object of interest |
| Tol | Tol 0440-381 | Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory | |
| Tololo | Tololo 1247-232 | Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory | |
| Tombaugh | Tombaugh 1 | rare designator prefixes | or "Tom 1", discoverer |
| Ton | Ton S180 | Tonantzintla Surveys | |
| Tonantzintla | Tonantzintla 181 | Tonantzintla Surveys | or "Ton 181" |
| TR | TR-122 | OGLE | shortened, TR meaning "transit" |
| TRAPPIST | TRAPPIST-1 | TRAPPIST | |
| TrES | TrES-4b | Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey | |
| Trumpler | Trumpler 27 | rare designator prefixes | (or "Tr"), author |
| TS | TS 335 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Turner | Turner 5 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| TVLM | TVLM 513-46546 | rare designator prefixes | author, "very low mass" |
| TWA | TWA 9 | TW Hydrae association | |
| TXFS | TXFS 1717+547 | rare designator prefixes | TXS & IRAS-FSC |
| TXS | TXS 1156+295 | Texas Survey of Radio Sources at 365 MHz | |
| TYC | TYC 3162-665-1 | Hipparcos | Tycho-1 or -2 Catalog |
| U | U1.27 | large quasar group | meaning "unit of quasars" with z number |
| U | U 494 | rare designator prefixes | "UGP" abbreviated |
| UA | UA 205 | Uppsala General Catalogue | addendum |
| UB | UB 4 | rare designator prefixes | ultraviolet blue |
| UBV | UBV 6193 | rare designator prefixes | catalogs UBV data |
| UBV M | UBV M 42980 | rare designator prefixes | update to UBV data |
| ubvy98 | ubvy98 100180540 | rare designator prefixes | filters |
| UCAC | UCAC3 70-2386 | USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog | |
| UCM | UCM 2303+1702 | rare designator prefixes | university |
| UDF | UDF 1 | Hubble Ultra-Deep Field | |
| UDFj | UDFj-39546284 | Hubble Ultra-Deep Field | HUDF09 J-band dropout |
| UDFy | UDFy-38135539 | Hubble Ultra-Deep Field | HUDF09 Y-band dropout |
| UDS | UDS10Wil | Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey | UDS field |
| UDXS | UDXS J221611.51+003308.1 | UKIDSS | deep extragalactic survey |
| UGC | UGC 7654 | Uppsala General Catalogue | |
| UGCA | UGCA 205 | Uppsala General Catalogue | or "UGC-A 205", addendum |
| UGCS | UGCS J030013.86+490142.5 | UKIDSS | galactic clusters survey |
| UGP | UGP 619 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| UGPS | UGPS J0521+3640 | UKIDSS | galactic plane survey |
| UHS | UHS J043947.08+163415.7 | rare designator prefixes | telescope, survey |
| UIT | UIT 3 | Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope | |
| UKS | UKS 1751-24.1 | UK Schmidt Telescope | GC |
| ULAS | ULAS J112001.48+064124.3 | UKIDSS | large area survey |
| UM | UM 133 | rare designator prefixes | univ. |
| UMa | UMa I dSph | rare designator prefixes | constellation abbreviation: Ursa Major |
| UPT | UPT 1 | double star designation | discoverer |
| US | US 3150 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| USco | USco 1621 a | Scorpius-Centaurus Association | Upper Scorpius |
| UScoCTIO | UScoCTIO 108 | CTIO Upper-Scorpius OB Association Survey | |
| USGC | USGC U490 | UZC-SSRS2 Group Catalog | |
| USNO | USNO 689 | USNO | star parallax list |
| USNO-A | USNO-A2.0 0825-18396733 | USNO | astrometric catalog edition |
| USNO-B | USNO-B1.0 1047-0021596 | USNO | astrometric catalog edition |
| USS | USS 0211-122 | rare designator prefixes | ultra steep spectrum RS |
| UT | UT 1538+149 | rare designator prefixes | university |
| UUDS | UUDS J021922.01-045536.3 | UKIDSS | deep survey |
| UV | UV0832-01 | ultraviolet | used occasionally |
| UVEX | UVEX J032855.25+503529.8 | IPHAS | UV-Excess Survey |
| UVOTSSC1 | UVOTSSC1 J023436.6-084707 | Swift | |
| V | V 0332+53 | Vela | |
| V Zw | V Zw 311 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | or "5Zw" or "5Z", Volume V |
| VA | VA 216 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Van Biesbroeck | Van Biesbroeck 10 | rare designator prefixes | or "VB 10",discoverer |
| van Bueren | van Bueren 3 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| van den Bergh | van den Bergh 26 | Van Den Bergh Reflection Nebula Catalog | |
| Van den Bergh-Hagen | Van den Bergh-Hagen 56 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Var | Var 83 | rare designator prefixes | M33 "variable" |
| Var | Var. A-1 | luminous blue variable | used for some in M31 and M33 |
| VBRC | VBRC 1 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| VCC | VCC 1993 | Virgo Cluster Catalog | |
| VCV | VCV J1409+5628 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| VD | VD 1-6 | rare designator prefixes | author, PNe |
| vdB | vdB 26 | Van Den Bergh Reflection Nebula Catalog | |
| VdB-H | VdB-H 60a | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| vdB-Ha | vdB-Ha 47 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| vdBH | vdBH 222 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Ve | Ve2-47 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| VER | VER J2016+371 | VERITAS | M87 GR sources |
| VES | VES 723 | rare designator prefixes | observatory, emission-line star |
| Vetesnik | Vetesnik 196 | rare designator prefixes | or V196, author |
| VFTS | VFTS 682 | VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey | |
| VHS | VHS J125601.92-125723.9 | VISTA | VHS survey |
| VI Zw | VI Zw 116 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | or "6Zw" or "6Z", Volume VI |
| VII Zw | VII Zw 466 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | or "7Zw" or "7Z", Volume VII |
| VIII Zw | VIII Zw 388 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | or "8Zw" or "8Z",Volume VIII |
| VIK | VIK J1148+0056 | VISTA | VIKING survey |
| VLA | VLA 1623 | Very Large Array | |
| VLASS | VLASS J121001+495647 | VLASS | |
| VLT | VLT085859.60-473127.5 | European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope | uncommon |
| VMR | VMR B | rare designator prefixes | constellation, "molecular ridge" |
| von Zeipel | von Zeipel 1128 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| VOU | VOU 24 | double star designation | discoverer(Voûte) |
| VRMF | VRMF 55 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| VRO | VRO 42.22.01 | rare designator prefixes | observatory |
| VSS | VSS II-50 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| VSSG | VSSG 18 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| VSX | VSX J052807.9+725606 | International Variable Star Index | |
| VT | VT 1210+4956 | VLASS | VLASS transient |
| VV | VV 28 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| VV | VV 72 | Catalogue of Interacting Galaxies | |
| VV2000c | VV2000c J195928.3+404402 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| VVDS | VVDS-20463884 | VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey | |
| VVO | VVO 230 | rare designator prefixes | Van Vleck Observatory |
| VVV BD | VVV BD001 | VISTA | VVV brown dwarf |
| VVV CL | VVV CL086 | VISTA | VVV stellar cluster |
| VVV | VVV J114135.16-622055.51 | VISTA | VVV survey |
| VVV-WIT | VVV-WIT-07 | VISTA | VVV "what is this?" |
| Vy | Vy 1-2 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Vys | Vys 3 | rare designator prefixes | author, same as MCC |
| W | W51 | Westerhout Radio Survey | |
| W61 | W61 19-24 | rare designator prefixes | author, year |
| Wack | Wack 5226 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Walker | Walker 134 | rare designator prefixes | or "Walk 134", author |
| Was | Was 72 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| WASP | WASP-17 | WASP | |
| Waterloo | Waterloo 3 | rare designator prefixes | (or Wat 3) stellar cluster |
| WB | WB 380 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| WB89 | WB89 840 | rare designator prefixes | authors/year |
| WBL | WBL 245 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| WD | WD 0806-661 | Villanova White Dwarf Catalog | |
| WDS | WDS 10494+5517 | Washington Double Star Catalog | |
| We | We 1-10 | rare designator prefixes | planetary nebulae |
| WEB | WEB 2 | double star designation | discoverer |
| Wee | Wee 49 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| WEI | WEI 17 | double star designation | discoverer(Weisse) |
| Wendelstein | Wendelstein-1b | Wendelstein Observatory | |
| WeSa | WeSa 6 | rare designator prefixes | planetary nebulae |
| Westerhout | Westerhout 51 | Westerhout Radio Survey | |
| Westerlund | Westerlund 2 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| Westphal | Westphal-MM8 | rare designator prefixes | astronomer |
| WG | WG 1 | double star designation | discoverer |
| WGA | WGA J1802.1+1804 | rare designator prefixes | compilers |
| WHL | WHL J013719.8-082841 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Willman | Willman 1 | rare designator prefixes | name of a discoverer |
| WINGS | WINGS J1348 | WINGS | |
| WISE | WISE 1506+7027 | Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer | |
| WISEA | WISEA J083011.95+283716.0 | Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer | AllWISE catalog |
| WISENF | WISENF J193656.08+040801.2 | Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer | NEOWISE |
| WISEP | WISEP J004701.06+680352.1 | Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer | preliminary release catalog |
| WISEPA | WISEPA J075108.79-763449.6 | Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer | preliminary Atlas Tile Source Working Database |
| WJN | WJN J1443+3439 | rare designator prefixes | observatory |
| WL | WL 17 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| WMAP | WMAP J184840+3223 | Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe | radio source |
| WN | WN J0000+4654 | USS Sources | data from WENSS and NVSS |
| WNC | WNC 4 | double star designation | or Winnecke 4, discoverer |
| WNO | WNO 6 | double star designation | Washington Naval Observatory |
| Wo | Wo 9540 C | rare designator prefixes | catalog author |
| WOH | WOH G64 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| Wolf | Wolf 359 | Max Wolf's catalog of stars with proper motion | |
| WOR | WOR 4 | rare designator prefixes | discoverer |
| WPVS | WPVS 48 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| WR | WR 124 | Wolf-Rayet star | |
| WRA | WRA 751 | rare designator prefixes | author |
| Wray | Wray 17-96 | rare designator prefixes | or WR17-96, author |
| WRD | WRD 1 | double star designation | discoverer |
| WRH | WRH 39 | double star designation | discoverer |
| WS | WS 27 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| WSTB | WSTB 64W55 | Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope | or just "64 W 55" |
| WT | WT 469 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| WTS | WTS-1b | WFCAM Transit Survey | |
| WZ | WZ 4 | double star designation | discoverer |
| X | X 1724-308 | X-ray source | general for "X-ray source" |
| XB | XB 1715-321 | X-ray burster | general for "X-ray burster" |
| XBS | XBS J110320.1+355803 | XMM-Newton | bright source |
| XCS | XCS J2215.9-1738 | XMM Cluster Survey | abbreviated |
| XDCP | XDCP J1450.1+0904 | XMM-Newton | distant cluster project |
| XEST | XEST 26-067 | XMM-Newton | TMC extended source |
| XLS | XLS-24 | X-SHOOTER Lyman α survey at z = 2 | |
| XLSS | XLSS J022319.0-051510 | XMM-Newton | XMM-LSS survey |
| XLSSC | XLSSC 029 | XMM-Newton | XMM-LSS survey, galaxy cluster |
| XMMSL1 | XMMSL1 J070542.7-381442 | XMM-Newton | slew survey |
| XMMU | XMMU J004814.1-731003 | XMM-Newton | |
| XMMXCS | XMMXCS J2215.9-1738 | XMM Cluster Survey | |
| XO | XO-3b | XO Project | |
| XRF | XRF 031203 | X-ray flash | |
| XRO | XRO 080109 | X-ray flash | X-ray outburst |
| XSS | XSS J00564+4548 | RXTE | XTE slew survey |
| XTE | XTE J1755-324 | RXTE | |
| XZ | XZ 89806 | XZ Catalog of Zodiacal Stars | |
| YBP | YBP 1194 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| YGKOW | YGKOW G1 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| YLW | YLW 15 | rare designator prefixes | authors |
| YM | YM 16 | rare designator prefixes | observatory |
| YSES | YSES 2 | rare designator prefixes | survey name |
| Z | Z 137-068 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | |
| z | z66OD | cosmological redshift | identification by the redshift |
| z8 | z8 GND 5296 | rare designator prefixes | apparently for "z rounds to 8, GOODS North Deep" |
| ZC | ZC 406690 | Cosmic Evolution Survey | zCOSMOS |
| ZC | ZC 491 | rare designator prefixes | Zodiacal Catalog |
| zCOSMOS | zCOSMOS 824314 | Cosmic Evolution Survey | zCOSMOS |
| ZF | ZF-COSMOS-20115 | FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey | |
| Zi | Zi 402 | rare designator prefixes | compiler(Zinner) |
| ZOAG | ZOAG G135.74-04.53 | zone of avoidance | |
| ZTF | ZTF18abvkwla | Zwicky Transient Facility | transient |
| ZTF | ZTF J0139+5245 | Zwicky Transient Facility | non-transient |
| Zw | Zw I 18 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | or cited as "I Zw 18" |
| ZwCl | ZwCl 0024+17 | Catalog of Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies | cluster |