HST
Abbreviation with 3 meanings
| Stands for | Hubble Space Telescope |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 3 |
| Categories | Science & Engineering, Units & Measurements, Business & Finance |
HST has three meanings. The most common are Hubble Space Telescope (astronomy & Space) and Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (time zone); it can also stand for Harmonized sales tax.
Meanings of HST at a glance
| # | HST stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hubble Space Telescope | Science & Engineering › Astronomy & Space |
| 2 | Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time | Units & Measurements › Time Zone |
| 3 | Harmonized sales tax | Business & Finance › Tax |
1. Hubble Space Telescope
Science & Engineering · Astronomy & Space Abbreviations
Space telescope with a 2.4-meter mirror, launched in 1990, that observes in ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light from low Earth orbit. Hubble has made more than a million observations, helped pin down the age of the universe and the existence of dark energy, and produced some of the most famous images in science.
Example: The HST image of the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula became an icon of astronomy.
Space shuttle Discovery launched Hubble on April 24, 1990, but its mirror had a flaw called spherical aberration, corrected by astronauts in December 1993. Five shuttle servicing missions upgraded it until 2009. It is named after Edwin Hubble, who showed that galaxies lie beyond the Milky Way and that the universe is expanding.
2. Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time
Units & Measurements · Time Zone Abbreviations
Ten hours behind UTC, HST is the year-round time of Hawaii and the winter time of the western Aleutian Islands. Because Hawaii skips daylight saving, Honolulu is two hours behind Los Angeles in winter and three in summer.
Example: The luau begins at 5:30 p.m. HST on the beach lawn.
Near the tropics day length changes little through the year, so Hawaii has not used daylight saving since World War II. The western Aleutians switch to Hawaii-Aleutian Daylight Time (HDT, UTC−9) in summer. Before 1947 Hawaii kept an offset of UTC−10:30.
3. Harmonized sales tax
Business & Finance · Tax Abbreviations
Combined federal and provincial sales tax used in Ontario and the four Atlantic provinces, administered as a single value-added tax by the Canada Revenue Agency. Ontario's 13% rate is made up of the 5% federal GST and an 8% provincial portion.
Example: Your total comes to $113 including HST.
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador adopted the HST in 1997, followed by Ontario and Prince Edward Island. British Columbia adopted it in 2010 but returned to a separate PST in 2013 after a referendum. Businesses in harmonized provinces claim input tax credits for the full HST they pay.
Related abbreviations
More astronomy & Space abbreviations
- GTO – Geosynchronous transfer orbit
- H0 – Hubble constant
- HEO – Highly elliptical orbit
- HR diagram – Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
- HZ – Habitable zone
- IAU – International Astronomical Union
- ISRO – Indian Space Research Organisation
- ISS – International Space Station
See all 83 astronomy & Space abbreviations →