<p>You are correct. The AT is short for Astronomical Transient. Next, follows the year and an arbitrary sequence of letters to uniquely identify the event, which is assigned by the Transient Name Server</p>
<p>This is the official IAU designation for Supernova Candidates, however true supernovae will be re-designated &quot;SN YYYYX&quot;. The neutron star merger was not a supernova, so retains its AT designation</p>
<p>This is described at (<a href="http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/Dic?/557556" rel="nofollow noreferrer">source</a>) with more details at <a href="https://wis-tns.weizmann.ac.il/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Transient Name Server (TNS)</a></p>
<p>SSS stands for Swope Supernova Survey, which <a href="https://wis-tns.weizmann.ac.il/object/2017gfo/discovery-cert" rel="nofollow noreferrer">discovered</a> the transient. The <a href="http://obs.carnegiescience.edu/swope" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Swope telescope is at Las Campanas in Chile.</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-23T16:33:26.580Z
SSS stands for Swope Supernova Survey, which
[discovered](https://wis-tns.weizmann.ac.il/object/2017gfo/discovery-cert)
the transient.
The [Swope telescope](http://obs.carnegiescience.edu/swope) is at Las Campanas in Chile.
Mike G
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-02-23T14:01:20.610Z
2022-12-12T11:30:35.783Z
2022-12-12T11:30:35.783Z
James K
<p>About 11 hours after the detection of GW170817 by Ligo/Virgo and the quickly succeeding detected GRB170817, a transient afterglow in the optical-nIR frequency appeared which showed many signs of <em>r</em>-process nucleosynthesis. This transient was given the identification AT 2017 gfo.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>"<em>SSS17a</em>, now with the IAU identification of <em>AT 2017 gfo</em>"</p>
</blockquote>

<p>My questions are simple. What do the acronyms "AT" and "gfo" mean? And for that matter, what does the acronymn "SSS" stand for? I tried to do a quick search through <a href="https://www.iau.org/" rel="noreferrer">the IAU website</a> but all I could find were general instructions on how to come up with your own astronomical identifier. I suspect "AT" means <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transient_astronomical_event" rel="noreferrer">astronomical transient</a>, but I can not confirm. </p>

<astrophysics><gravitational-waves><naming><gamma-ray-bursts>
What do the acronyms in "AT 2017 gfo" mean?
Arturo don Juan
# What do the acronyms in "AT 2017 gfo" mean?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-02-23)

About 11 hours after the detection of GW170817 by Ligo/Virgo and the quickly succeeding detected GRB170817, a transient afterglow in the optical-nIR frequency appeared which showed many signs of *r*-process nucleosynthesis. This transient was given the identification AT 2017 gfo.

> "*SSS17a*, now with the IAU identification of *AT 2017 gfo*"

My questions are simple. What do the acronyms "AT" and "gfo" mean? And for that matter, what does the acronymn "SSS" stand for? I tried to do a quick search through [the IAU website](https://www.iau.org/) but all I could find were general instructions on how to come up with your own astronomical identifier. I suspect "AT" means [astronomical transient](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transient_astronomical_event), but I can not confirm.

**Tags:** astrophysics, gravitational-waves, naming, gamma-ray-bursts

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-02-23. Score: 8 | Accepted answer

You are correct. The AT is short for Astronomical Transient. Next, follows the year and an arbitrary sequence of letters to uniquely identify the event, which is assigned by the Transient Name Server

This is the official IAU designation for Supernova Candidates, however true supernovae will be re-designated "SN YYYYX". The neutron star merger was not a supernova, so retains its AT designation

This is described at ([source](http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/Dic?/557556)) with more details at [Transient Name Server (TNS)](https://wis-tns.weizmann.ac.il/)

SSS stands for Swope Supernova Survey, which [discovered](https://wis-tns.weizmann.ac.il/object/2017gfo/discovery-cert) the transient. The [Swope telescope is at Las Campanas in Chile.](http://obs.carnegiescience.edu/swope)

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: SSS stands for Swope Supernova Survey, which [discovered](https://wis-tns.weizmann.ac.il/object/2017gfo/discovery-cert) the transient. The [Swope telescope](http://obs.carnegiescience.edu/swope) is at Las Campanas in Chile.  

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