Acronym help

[Brainstorm]

I now know what an OTA is, but I've seen so many acronyms lately and find it very confusing to keep track of a block of text that relies heavily on them.

Here's an example from another site

Whilst the PE of the EQ6 isn't particularly good, what it is verygood at is responding to guider commands. Result? Everything guides out perfectly. I had nothing other than pin sharp stars 100% of the time.

I'd far rather a mount with bad PE that guides properly than one with lower PE that didn't...

What the hell is PE?

There is a list on Wikipedia, but PE wasn't listed. If anyone could list out all the popular acronyms used in these forums, it would be much appreciated.

[John]

PE - Periodic Error I believe. It's a measure of tracking accuracy.

[brantuk]

Here's a definition from Wiki:

Periodic Error is a small mechanical error in the accuracy of the tracking in a motorized mount that results small movements of the target that can spoil long-exposure images, even if the mount is perfectly polar-aligned and appears to be tracking perfectly in short tests. It is called periodic because it repeats at a regular interval - the interval being the amount of time it takes the mount's drive gear to complete one revolution

[rowan46]

pe stands for periodic error all mounts have an amount of this a bit like clocks eg the best may lose a couple of seconds a year some of the cheaper ones if you can remember before quartz had to be reset every day

[ollypenrice]

That's it. On each cycle of the worm gear there will be a tracking error known as PE. Many mounts - here's anopther one for you - have PEC; Periodic Error Correction, a system in which you run through one cycle of the worm making small corrections which are recorded then automatically replayed on subsequent cycles.

Olly

[glowjet]

Nip into W H Smiths every now and then, if you look in the Astro periodicals there is often a page at the back that lists the definition of words and abbreviations used in Astronomy, the more time you spend in Astronomy it will become easier, but I do admit it is confusing to newcomers.

[MorningMajor]

IYCAAMALH

And I'll translate:-

If you come across any more acronyms look here

Enjoy

[Moonshane]

my most hated ones are the TLAs.

[Moonshane]

three letter acronyms

[NGL]

I think Brainstorm was making a general point about acronyms as opposed to specifically asking what PE meant.

Considering this is in the beginners part of the forum would it not be sensible to always spell out the meaning of an acronym the first time it is used.

e.g. "Whilst the PE (Periodic Error) of the ...".

I think this would relieve much of the frustration when coming across acronyms.

In the above example, doing a google search of Periodic Error is much more likely to come up with a meaningful explanation rather than searching for PE which could mean many things.

[rowan46]

I think Brainstorm was making a general point about acronyms as opposed to specifically asking what PE meant.

Considering this is in the beginners part of the forum would it not be sensible to always spell out the meaning of an acronym the first time it is used.

e.g. "Whilst the PE (Periodic Error) of the ...".

I think this would relieve much of the frustration when coming across acronyms.

In the above example, doing a google search of Periodic Error is much more likely to come up with a meaningful explanation rather than searching for PE which could mean many things.

welcome to sgl ngm its a fair point you make about acronyms but I would raise a couple of points this paticular acronym wasnt from this site. whilst I and I assume most others look at the post count to see if the person has some posts under there belt and tailor accordingly. I tend to explain acronyms to people with a very low post count and assume some knowledge for those with a higher count if they or I come across something we don't understand. people don't mind being asked it can be a bind to just assume that everybody knows nothing and not a little patronising.

[carpman]

well after reading a post tonight i think

PE periodic error

PEC periodic error correction

should / need to be added

Ps Please no more chat about dvd please i think most people know wot that means or they've got there interpetation of wot they think in means .......