VO Reality

It is now possible to have powerful and expensive new observing facilities at wavelengths from the radio to the X-ray and gamma-ray regions. Together with advanced instrumentation techniques, a vast new array of astronomical data sets will soon be forthcoming at all wavelengths. These very large databases must be archived and made accessible in a systematic and uniform manner to realise the full potential of the new observing facilities.

The Virtual Observatory aims to provide the framework for global access to the various data archives by facilitating the standardisation of archiving and data-mining protocols. The AVO will also take advantage of state-of-the-art advances in data-handling software in astronomy and in other fields.

The Virtual Observatory initiative is currently aiming at a global collaboration of the astronomical communities in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Australia under the auspices of the recently formed International Virtual Observatory Alliance.

New Paradigm for Researchers

Researchers must now turn to the GRID paradigm of distributed computing and resources to solve complex, front-line research problems. To implement this new paradigm, one has to join existing astronomical data centres and archives into an interoperating and single unit. This new astronomical data resource will form a Virtual Observatory (VO) so that astronomers can explore the digital Universe in the new archives across the entire spectrum. Similarly to how a real observatory consists of telescopes, each with a collection of unique astronomical instruments, the VO consists of a collection of data centres each with unique collections of astronomical data, software systems, and processing capabilities, which will enable new science. The VO initiative is a global collaboration of the world's astronomical communities under the auspices of the recently formed International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA).

The EURO-VO project aims at deploying an operational VO in Europe.
This builds on the development experience gained with its predecessor, the Astrophysical Virtual Observatory project (AVO), which conducted a research and demonstration programme on the scientific requirements and technologies necessary to build a European VO. In coordination with the European astronomical infrastructural networks OPTICON and RADIONET, and through membership and support of the IVOA, EURO-VO will seek to obtain the following objectives:

1. technology take-up and full VO compliant data and resource provision by astronomical data centres in Europe;
2. support to the scientific community to utilise the new VO infrastructure through dissemination, workshops, project support, and VO facility-wide resources and services;
3. building of an operational VO infrastructure in response to new scientific challenges via development and refinement of VO components, assessment of new technologies, design of new components and their implementation.

The EURO-VO project is open to all European astronomical data centres. Initial partners include ESO, the European Space Agency, and six national funding agencies, with their respective VO nodes: Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF, Italy), Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (INSU, France), Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial (INTA, Spain), Nederlandse Onderzoekschool voor Astronomie (NOVA, Netherlands), Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC, UK), and Rat Deutscher Sternwarten (RDS, Germany). The total planned EURO-VO resources sum up to approximately 60 persons/yr over three years, i.e., about three times those of the AVO.