The Astrophysical Virtual Observatory Project (AVO) conducted a research and demonstration programme on the scientific requirements and technologies necessary to build a VO for European astronomy. The AVO has been jointly funded by the European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

 (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

European Southern Observatory

The European Southern Observatory is an intergovernmental research organisation for astronomy, supported by fifteen countries...

 (ESO) in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, the European Space Agency

European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...

 (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.

External links

• Astrophysical Virtual Observatory or AVO
• Its continuation project EURO-VO or European Virtual Observatory Euro-VO
  Euro-VO
  The European Virtual Observatory or EURO-VO project aims at deploying an operational Virtual Observatory in Europe. Its objectives are technology take-up and VO compliant resource provision, building the technical infrastructure and to support its utilization by the scientific community.The EURO-VO...
  
  
• AVO at ESA/Hubble