Euro-VO (European Virtual Observatory)

The technical specifications defined by the IVOA (International Virtual Observatory Alliance) enable interoperability between and the integration of astronomical archives across the world into an international virtual observatory. They include several data models that act as metadata schemas for particular data types: for example, photometry data, simulation data, space-time coordinates, spectral lines data, spectral data, observational data, and the physical parameter space of astronomical datasets.

These data models are under active development by the IVOA Data Modelling Working Group.

Additional recommendations have been made for metadata concepts and terms necessary for the discovery and the use of astronomical data collections and services.