The Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory (PVOL) and its integration into the Virtual European Solar and Planetary Access (VESPA)

Abstract

Since 2003 the Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory (PVOL) has been storing and serving publicly through its web site a large database of amateur observations of the Giant Planets (Hueso et al., 2010a). These images are used for scientific research of the atmospheric dynamics and cloud structure on these planets and constitute a powerful resource to address time changing phenomena in their atmospheres. Advances over the last decade in observation techniques, and a wider conscience by professional astronomers of the quality of amateur observations, have resulted in the necessity to upgrade this database. We here present major advances in the PVOL database that has evolved into a full virtual planetary observatory encompassing also observations of Mercury, Venus, Mars, the Moon and the Galilean satellites. Besides the new objects, the images can be tagged and the database allows simple and complex searches over the data. The new web service: PVOL2 is available online in http://pvol2.ehu.eus/ , contains a fully functional search engine and constitutes one of the many services included in VESPA (Virtual Europan Solar and Planetary Access). Data from PVOL2 can be served from the VESPA portal using the EPN-TAP protocol. PVOL2 also provides long-term storage to amateur observations containing about 30,000 amateur observations starting in the year 2000. Current and past observations from the amateur community provide a global view of the Solar System planets over the years with several possibilities for scientific analysis and amateur astronomers involvement in planetary science.

arXiv commentAccepted in Planetary and Space Sciences. Part of an special issue on "Enabling Open and Interoperable Access to Planetary Science and Heliophysics Databases and Tools", 35 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables

References in corpus (13)

• Ideas for Citizen Science in Astronomy
• Record-breaking Storm Activity on Uranus in 2014
• The long-term steady motion of Saturn's Hexagon and the stability of its enclosed jet-stream under seasonal changes
• Instrumental Methods for Professional and Amateur Collaborations in Planetary Astronomy
• The impact of a large object with Jupiter in July 2009
• VESPA: a community-driven Virtual Observatory in Planetary Science
• First Earth-based Detection of a Superbolide on Jupiter
• An Enduring Rapidly Moving Storm as a Guide to Saturn's Equatorial Jet's Complex Structure
• Neptune long-lived atmospheric features in 2013-2015 from small (28-cm) to large (10-m) telescopes
• Venus cloud morphology and motions from ground-based images at the time of the Akatsuki orbit insertion
• Molecular content of polar-ring galaxies
• Planetary Science Virtual Observatory architecture
• The Venus ground-based image Active Archive: a database of amateur observations of Venus in ultraviolet and infrared light

Cited by in corpus (13)

• The onset and growth of the 2018 Martian Global Dust Storm
• VESPA: a community-driven Virtual Observatory in Planetary Science
• Jupiter Science Enabled by ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer
• Jupiter's Equatorial Plumes and Hot Spots: Spectral Mapping from Gemini/TEXES and Juno/MWR
• Infrared Characterisation of Jupiter's Equatorial Disturbance Cycle
• Saturn's Atmosphere in Northern Summer Revealed by JWST/MIRI
• Neptune long-lived atmospheric features in 2013-2015 from small (28-cm) to large (10-m) telescopes
• Observations and numerical modelling of a convective disturbance in a large-scale cyclone in Jupiter's South Temperate Belt
• Small impacts on the giant planet Jupiter
• Saturn atmospheric dynamics one year after Cassini: Long-lived features and time variations in the drift of the Hexagon
• The Thermal Structure and Composition of Jupiter's Great Red Spot From JWST/MIRI
• Drift Rates of Major Neptunian Features between 2018 and 2021
• Jupiter's third largest and longest-lived oval: Color changes and dynamics