= Virtual Solar Observatory =

== Welcome to the Virtual Solar Observatory! For the latest VSO updates, check out our [[https://docs.virtualsolar.org/wiki/News|News]] page. ==

The VSO is a tool for investigating the physics of the Sun.  Users may search existing databases for terrestrial and space-based observations, hiding the details of where the data is and what’s needed to get it.  A researcher can use the VSO to search across multiple instruments and events, to find datasets of interest, and having done that, transparently download them to their workstation. 

There are many ways to use the VSO to search and download data. The main two ways are:  
1.	Via our [http://virtualsolar.org web interface] and
2.	Via [http://www.lmsal.com/solarsoft/ssw_whatitis.html SolarSoft] in IDL  

Because we publish our API, users can use their favorite programming language to access the VSO including [http://sunpy.org/ SunPy] and 
[https://docs.virtualsolar.org/WSDL WSDL].

The VSO web and data interfaces are a singular model mirrored across multiple sites such as the NASA Solar Data Archive Center, the National Solar Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The data archives themselves are distributed, residing with the groups that designed, built and used the instruments to collect the data; they possess the expertise required to fully exploit the data.
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== Data Products ==

We have observations available from sources as diverse as NASA’s space-bourne Solar Dynamics Observatory and the ground-based GONG instrument.  Observations go back nearly 100 years, such as from the Mt Wilson 60ft spectro-heliograph.  We are proud of our international partnerships and we are always looking to serve more data whenever possible.  
 
A current list of our data providers can be found here:
[http://vso.nascom.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/show_details.pl?keyword=PROVIDER]

Our data is generally provided as FITS files but may also be in other standards, such as XML or HDF.  

* Check out our [[https://docs.virtualsolar.org/wiki/News|News]] page for new and updated datasets

== Contact Us ==
If you have problems with this site, please [wiki:ContactUs contact the site admin], with the nature of the problem.

For general problems or questions, please visit our two google mail groups at
[http://groups.google.com/group/vso-api]
and
[http://groups.google.com/group/vso-idl]

== News ==

For the latest VSO updates, check out our [[https://docs.virtualsolar.org/wiki/News|News]] page.

=== The VSO Documentation Site is being updated ===

We are in the process of adding new documentation and tightening up our categories to make the existing documentation more helpful.  Please bear with us as we construct new pages.  

== Recent Meetings ==

The recent presentation list needs to be updated; older presentations can be found at [wiki:PastMeetings Past Meetings]


== Data Model ==

The current version of the data model is
[wiki:DataModel18 Version 1.8] (updated 2005 May 20).


== Frequently Asked Questions ==

=== User Questions ===

 1. [wiki:HowToSearch How do I search for data using the VSO?]
 1. [wiki:HowToDownload How do I get the data?]
 1. [wiki:DataProviderHoldings What are the holdings of each data provider?]
 1. [wiki:HowToGetUrl How can I get a URL to the data products that I've found?]
 1. [wiki:HowToMovie How can I make a movie?]
 1. [wiki:WhyExtraData Why do I get records I wasn't expecting when I search?]
 1. [wiki:WhyLessData Why do I get fewer records than I was expecting when I search?]
 1. [wiki:HowToCatalog How do I search for data using catalogs?]

=== Data Provider Questions ===

 1. [wiki:NewDataProvider How can I become a data provider?]
 2. [wiki:DataProviderMetaData What meta-data is used by a Data Provider and how is that meta-data used]
 3. [wiki:DataProviderJSOC_SHA How do the JSOC and SHA Data Providers work]

=== Application Programmer Questions ===

 1. [wiki:NewUserInterface How can I access the VSO through my own interface?]
 1. [wiki:HowToGetBrowseImg How can I get the browse images (jpeg, png, gif, etc) for observations?]
 1. [wiki:HowToGetUrl How can I get a URL to the data products?]
Also see our [wiki:VsoFAQ2 infrequently asked questions] list.

== Bug Reports ==

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