10 Naming convention for optical components Data Interface Control Document Top Back Next 10 Naming convention for optical components This section describes how optical components in use at the VLT and NTT telescopes are named and identified. Astronomers are likely to use names while observatory staff will mostly use identifiers. This naming convention will be applied to all VLT and NTT instruments. Each optical element, i.e. filters, grisms, etc., in use at any VLT or NTT instrument shall have a unique identifier and a verbose name.
Identifiers are typically sequential numbers which are given to each element when acquired.
Identifiers and names are kept in an database which is part of the VLT Instrument Description Database. Instrument Consortia who prepare Data Interface Dictionaries must foresee for the corresponding keywords at least 10 characters space for the ID keyword and 30 characters for the NAME keyword. This section describes the scheme applied when assigning a name to optical elements. Optical elements have a technical name that describes its major physical characteristics and may have a short, commonly used conventional name. The basic rule for technical names is to prefix the name with a four letter mnemonic of the element in question followed by some of its optical characteristics.