The Astrophysical Virtual Observatory (AVO) project conducted a research and demonstration programme on the scientific requirements and technologies necessary to build a
virtual observatory for European astronomy. The AVO has been jointly funded by the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
(under FP5 - Fifth Framework Programme) with six European organisations participating in a three-year Phase-A work programme, valued at 5 million euro. The partner organisations were the
European Southern Observatory (ESO) in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, the
European Space Agency (ESA), AstroGrid (funded by PPARC as part of the UK's E-Science programme), the CNRS-supported Centre de Données Astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS), the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, the CNRS-supported TERAPIX astronomical data centre at the Institut d'Astrophysique in Paris, France, and the Jodrell Bank Observatory of the Victoria University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
The Phase A program focussed its effort in the following areas:
*A detailed description of the science requirements for the AVO was constructed, following the experience gained in a smaller-scale science demonstration program called ASTROVIRTEL (Accessing Astronomical Archives as Virtual Telescopes).
*The difficult issue of data and archive interoperability was addressed by new standards definitions for astronomical data and trial programmes of "joins" between specific target archives within the project team.
*The necessary GRID and database technologies were assessed and tested for use within a full AVO implementation.
References
*
Virtual Observatories initiatives worldwide, State of the projects 2006 ( www.Interquanta.biz/vos )highlights that EURO-VO is the continuation from AVO as a Phase-B deployment of an operational VO in Europe.
*
External links
*{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060602131405/http://www.euro-vo.org/avo/ , title=Astrophysical Virtual Observatory or AVO , date=2006-06-02
*Its continuation projec
EURO-VOor European Virtual Observatory
Euro-VO The European Virtual Observatory or EURO-VO project aims at deploying an operational virtual observatory in Europe. Its objectives are technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reprod ...
AVO at ESA/Hubble
Virtual observatories
Organizations based in Europe