Web Services for the Virtual Observatory

With the advent of large format CCD detectors, the way astronomy is done changes rapidly. Because of the exponential growth in the size of the silicon chips, new surveys are expected to have significantly higher data rates. In this exponential world, only 10% of all astronomical information is available in central archives at any given time. In order to have access to all up-to-date observations, we need to find a way to federate geographically separated astronomical archives. The Virtual Observatory initiative was launched to formally address this problem and coordinate worldwide efforts to federate astronomical archives and other resources in general.

On these pages you will find information on how to use XML Web Services and a growing selection of available VO services. Following the examples, you can learn how to integrate terabytes of online astronomical data and useful online tools with your own application using only a few lines of code.

Site Map

The site contains a growing selection of VO Services. The links point to the actual services that are not part of this web site. Some of them are hosted under www.voservices.net. Similarly the download section has links to pages outside this site. The help page contains an FAQ based on your questions as well as selected links for further reading. You can send us an email with your questions and/or suggestions.