HEASARC in the VO
The Virtual Observatory (VO) is a set of standards that allow users or client software to access archives around the world with the identical queries. Each archive that implements the VO standard APIs and registers their services can then be accessed by any VO enabled client. In other words, you can use your preferred NASA data portal for example and use it to browse data served by ESA services, and vice versa. The ESASky tool is an example of a non-HEASARC tool that presents HEASARC data in addition to many other archive's data. This page gives an overview of how that works.
For more information about HEASARC's place in the Virtual Observatory's international organization, please see our NASA Astronomical Virtual Observatories (NAVO) web pages.
HEASARC VO-enabled Data Services
Simple Catalog Searches
All HEASARC Browse Catalogs are available through the Cone search protocol. The result of a search is a table that contains metadata on a source. Use "http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/vo/cone/coneGet.pl?table=xxx" as the base URL where "xxx" is the short name of the table/catalog (more info).
SkyView Survey Images Using SIAP
All SkyView surveys can be accessed through the Simple Image Access Protocol (SIAP). Use the base URL "http://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/vo/sia.pl?survey=xxx" where "xxx" is a string or substring present in the survey name (more info).
Access to Spectra via SSA
A number of data sets are available through the SSA protocol. Use "http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/xamin/vo/ssa?table=xxx" as the base URL where "xxx" is the short name of the table/catalog (more info).
Advanced Table Operations Using TAP
HEASARC general table data may be accessed through the TAP protocol. Use "http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/xamin/vo/tap/" as the base URL (more info).
Getting HEASARC Catalogs in VOTable format
VOTables can be read and manipulated by powerful utilities like TOPCAT. All HEASARC catalog query results are available in multiple formats including VOTable.
Finding HEASARC VO Services
The HEASARC publishes information about its services in the NAVO Directory. You can also search the ESAVO registry for HEASARC services.
VO Operations Services
VO Validation Service
The VO Validation Service checks that VO services are in compliance with VO standards. The VO Validation Service home page summarizes the results of these checks and allows users to view the validation status of individual services at their site.
Monitoring Services
The VO Monitor displays the status of VO sites and services and allows users to test services interactively.
The VO Statistics Service displays uptime statistics for VO sites in a given range of start and end dates.
Historical References
NVO Book
This volume is a collection of the NVO Summer School lectures and tutorials. It includes a complete set of software libraries and worked examples to guide the astronomer/software developer through the process of developing VO-enabled programs in a variety of programming languages and scripting environments.