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The Sky is for Everyone
— Outreach and Education with the Virtual Observatory (pages 18-21)
Florian Freistetter, Giulia Iafrate, Massimo Ramella, the AIDA-WP5 Tea

Key Words
Virtual Observatory, Education, Data Mining, Databases

Summary

The Virtual Observatory (VO) is an international project to collect astronomical data (images, spectra, simulations, mission-logs, etc.), organise them and develop tools that let astronomers access this huge amount of information. The VO not only simplifies the work of professional astronomers, it is also a valuable tool for education and public outreach. For teachers and astronomers who actively promote astronomy to the public, the VO is a great opportunity to access and use real astronomical data, and have a taste of the daily life of astronomers.