Astronomy Visualization Metadata
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| This article, Astronomy Visualization Metadata, has recently been created via the Articles for creation process. Please check to see if the reviewer has accidentally left this template after accepting the draft and take appropriate action as necessary.
Reviewer tools: Inform author |
Astronomy Visualization Metadata is a standard for tagging astronomical images stored in formats such as JPEG, GIF, PNG and TIFF[1]. The AVM standard extends the concept of XMP headers to include useful astronomical information about the subject of the image as well as the telescope used to take the image. This ensures that relevant information is transferred with the image when it is shared with others. AVM could be considered analogous to the FITS headers associated with raw astronomical data files.
The standard was proposed by the Virtual Astronomy Multimedia Project, part of the IAU Commission 55 and the International Virtual Observatory Alliance. It reached version 1.1 on May 14, 2008[2]. The standard is currently used to tag images from the Chandra X-ray Observatory[3] and the Herschel Space Observatory. Software packages such as PinpointWCS[4] and FITS Liberator[5] have implemented the standard.
The metadata include information about the creator of the image, the content (including description and subject category), the method of observation (including facility, instrument and spectral information), and the World Coordinate System (WCS) position in the sky.
AVM Categories
The AVM standard defines a taxonomy for astronomical objects[6]. The main categories are:
- Planet
- Interplanetary Body
- Star
- Nebula
- Galaxy
- Cosmology
- Sky Phenomenon
- Technology
- People