Introduction to the VO

1. Introduction to the VO Christophe.Arviset@esa.int ESAVO ESA/ESAC – Madrid, Spain

2. The way Astronomy works • Telescopes (ground- and space-based, covering the full electromagnetic spectrum)  Observatories • Instruments (telescope/band dependent)  Observatories/Consortia • Data analysis software (instrument dependent)  Observatories/Consortia/Researchers • Active Archives  Observatories/Agencies • Publications  Journals • Data curation (metadata + tables & catalogues)  Data curators • … and Public Outreach  Observatories/Agencies

3. Outreach Products Calibrations Processed Data Raw Data Observatories Data Headers Software Data Products Logs Instruments Analysis VO Telescope control Catalogues Publications Computing Tables Figures Papers

4. The VO Concept for Astronomy • WEB : all documents in the world “virtually” on your computer • VO : all astronomical data in the world “virtually” on your computer • What the VO is NOT: • A centralized database of all astronomical data • A “monolith” software system • A peer-to-peer system • The VO framework • Agreed standards • Inter-operable data collections • Inter-operable software modules

5. Purpose of this Workshop ! VO : What is needed ? • Global standards • Transparent inter-operability for the end users • Well funded data centres • Space agencies, Ground based telescope, Labs • Working data services • Data remains the key ! • VO aware client tools and portals • Bring the data to the users • VO aware data mining services • New way of making science

6. including IVOA : International Virtual Observatory Alliance 17* National & International Partners Projects *Brazil just joined

7. IVOA • IVOA Mission: • To facilitate the international coordination and collaboration necessary for the development and deployment of the tools, systems and organizational structures necessary to enable the international utilization of astronomical archives as an integrated and interoperating virtual observatory • Mainly about defining Interoperability standards • Links to Data Centres • Links to other communities • IVOA Newsletter • 2 interoperability meetings per year • Mailing lists • Wiki www.ivoa.net

8. IVOA Executive Committee Working Groups Data Access Layer Data Modeling Semantics Registry VOEvent VO Query Language VOTable Web & Grid Services Applications Technical Coordination Group Interest Groups Theory Data Curation and Preservation OGF Astro-RG Structure of IVOA • IVOA exec • Reps from each project • Chair rotating every 18 months • WGs • Produces IVOA standards • IGs

9. VO Outreach (web, helpdesk, …) Science Advisory Committee VO Research Initiatives Science and Tech. Workshops User Support Registry of VO Resources VO R&D Technologies for new projects and facilities Participation in IVOA WG/IGs Network of Data Centres in Europe VO technology take-up Publish data and metadata through VO services EURO-VO : www.euro-vo.org • ESA • ESO • France • UK • Italy • Spain • Germany • The Netherlands

10. Euro-VO AIDA Project • The “Astronomical Infrastructure for Data Access (AIDA)” project is funded by the EC FP7 through the Infrastructure call INFRA-2007-1.2.1 “Scientific Digital Repositories” • Same partners as the EURO-VO • 2.7M€ from EC • Started Feb 2008 up to July 2010 • http://cds.u-strasbg.fr/twikiAIDA/bin/view/EuroVOAIDA/WebHome • Euro-VO AIDA aims at unifying the digital data collection of European astronomy, integrating their access mechanisms with evolving e-technologies and enhancing the science extracted from these data-sets • Combination of DCA, VOTC, and FC activities • One of Euro-VO AIDA goals is to support the European Data Centres in publishing their data through the VO framework

11. Publish Document Robots makes Inventory Server Create document Publishing Data on the Internet WEBSERVER

12. Create VO Service DALToolKit Find List of VO Services Produce Data Register VO Service Publishing Data in the VO S SSA SERVER

13. Data Providers in the VO Era • The VO needs data • Astronomical data providers lie at its foundation • Data quality is the responsibility of the data providers • The VO is more than a system; it’s also a “frame of mind” • Common access to more and heterogeneous data • The VO also bring added value for data providers: • Broadens data user base as data available through VO tools • Allows cross correlation with similar data • Allows remote computing, analysis and storage of data • Foster new science

14. VO-compliant Archives • The VO cannot (and does not) dictate how to manage an archive • Data centres still need to produce data • Data centres still require their own archive and access tools • The VO requires data centres to have a “VO layer” to: • “translate” their own “model” into the VO common language • “translate” any locally defined metadata to the standard (IVOA compliant) ones (e.g., RA can be called in many different ways) • “hide” any observatory/telescope/instrument specific detail and work in astronomical units: e.g., wavelength range/band (not grism or filter name), spectral resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, field of view, limiting magnitude