The recent establishment of the South African Astroinformatics Alliance (officially abbreviated to SA3) creates a ‘virtual observatory’ in South Africa and brings the country’s astronomy sector into line with those of most of the major astronomy countries. SA3 has already joined the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (Ivoa). Ivoa defines a virtual observatory as “the vision that astronomical datasets and other resources should work as a seamless whole”.

SA3 has been formed by the South African Astronomical Observatory, which will provide the secretariat for the new body, the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory and Square Kilometre Array South Africa. These institutions cover both visual and radio wavelength astronomy.

It has three main objectives. The first is to give the South African astronomy community access to multiwavelength astro- nomical data and to the tools needed to handle this data. The second is to make certain that, without violating any ownership rights, data produced by South African facilities will be available to the international community. The third objective is human capital development, using schools and workshops to explain data and the virtual observatory tools to people.

Membership of Ivoa means that SA3 can benefit from the hardware and software developments made by other virtual observatories. Ivoa’s members are the virtual observatories of Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, the UK, the US as well as the European Virtual Observatory and the European Space Agency.

This step has been taken by the South African astronomy community because it is starting a new era. This will be marked by huge amounts of data which are already being produced by the Southern African Large Telescope and which will be generated by the upcoming MeerKAT radio telescope array, the future Square Kilometre Array radio telescope, as well as by international ground- and space-based collaborations that South Africa will or might join. This data will cover the electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves through visible light to gamma rays. It will also be possible to connect this data with theoretical models and simulations and thereby add another dimension to astronomy.

“South Africa can be best positioned to exploit this wealth of data if we develop our storage, access, visualisation and analysis tools in a coherent manner that takes cognisance of the rapidly changing scale and complexity of the requirements and the environment,” states SA3 in its press release. “Links between the observational data, theoretical models and simulations will also play key roles in our growing understanding of the universe and must form an integral part of our vision. SA3 is established with the intent that any new major astronomical facility, observational or theoretical, will become involved at an appropriate stage.”

As it taps huge astronomical resources and has very sophisticated but extremely easy to use procedures, SA3 will also be a powerful training tool. Students and teachers will be able to carry out experiments and/or exercises that will be informative yet require the use of relatively simple and inexpensive tools. Student programmes have already been initiated, with help from other Ivoa members, which will provide training within the National Astronomy and Space Science Programme.

“These projects demonstrate the latest, interesting results in astronomy and, at the same time, expose the students to modern developments taking place in the astronomy and information technology domains,” affirms SA3. “They deal with topics ranging from our solar system to the most distant galaxies and are designed so that they can be adapted for students with different levels of scientific training. The alliance will help other institutes and universities within South Africa and Africa to develop similar student projects with help from the International Astronomical Union Office of Astronomy for Development.”