The Institute for Solar Physics (KIS) hosted an international online workshop addressing a key challenge for modern solar research: how to make the wealth of solar observations produced across Europe findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) within the wider astrophysical community.

Initiated and organised by KIS, the workshop built on expertise developed through the KIS Science Data Centre (2017–2025). It was held within the framework of the EU-fundedOSCARSprojectFSD – Federation of Solar Data, which aims to strengthen the FAIR archiving, curation and sharing of solar data and connect it with the broader astronomical data infrastructure.

Connecting solar observations to the Virtual Observatory

The workshop provided members of the European solar community with practical knowledge on publishing solar datasets through established astronomical Virtual Observatory (VO) infrastructures. Participants explored how observations can be prepared, described and exposed using established standards and services, including IVOA standardsandEPN-TAP protocols.

Making solar datasets available through these infrastructures enables them to be discovered and accessed alongside data from other areas of astrophysics. It also opens up new possibilities for combining solar observations with datasets from across the astronomical community.

For example, solar datasets published through VO services can be explored using established tools such as Aladin Sky Atlas (CDS, Strasbourg), extending their visibility beyond dedicated solar-data archives.

Expertise and European collaboration

The workshop benefited from the expertise of Dr. Markus Demleitner from the German Astrophysical Virtual Observatory (GAVO) at Heidelberg University. His long-standing work on astronomical data standards and Virtual Observatory infrastructure provided valuable guidance on the practical steps involved in making solar datasets accessible within the wider astronomical ecosystem.

The meeting brought together researchers and data experts from institutions across Europe, including INAF (Italy), IAC (Spain), ROB (Belgium), AI SAS (Slovakia), the EST Foundation, IRSOL (Switzerland), Stockholm University (Sweden), Oslo University (Norway) and KIS (Germany).

Building on the experience of its Science Data Centre and bringing together expertise from across the European solar community, KIS is helping to connect solar-data archives with the wider astronomical data infrastructure. The workshop marks a step towards making valuable solar observations more readily discoverable and reusable across disciplines, supporting their integration into the broader astrophysical data ecosystem.