An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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An international cooperation whose objective is 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. The IVOA, created in 2002, now comprises 20 Virtual Observatory programs from various countries and international organizations.

→ international; → virtual; → observatory; → alliance.

An international initiative by the astronomical community to allow global electronic access to the available astronomical data archives of space and ground-based observatories. It also aims to enable data analysis techniques through a coordinating entity that provides common standards, wide-network bandwidth, and state-of-the-art analysis tools. The Virtual Observatory is also intended for re-using data for scientific objectives different from the original ones, in order to optimize the science return of astronomical observations. The Virtual Observatory's capabilities are enabled through the use of standard protocols for registering the existence and location of data and for requesting data that satisfies the user's interests. These standards are developed on an international basis through the → IVOA. The cornerstone of the Virtual Observatory is → interoperability.

→ virtual; → observatory.