Databases: Between old and new astronomy

Abstract

The transmission of astronomical data and knowledge from one field to others and from one generation to the next obeys rules which have been only slightly altered during centuries: observations are hopefully stored in observatory files not far from the instruments. Results based on these observations are usually brought to the attention of a more general community through publications. Surveys or extended sets of processed data are eventually produced or compiled by specialists and published in catalogues. Computer techniques drastically increase the efficiency in each of these fields. A number of important astronomical results already illustrate the process through which existing knowledge does interact with new observations and experiments to produce new and improved knowledge. However most existing applications are hardly more than plain linear extrapolations of what was being achieved with old techniques. Meanwhile the information needed to use a piece of observational data out of its native context is growing in volume and complexity. New approaches must be adopted to fix today's knowledge in structures that at least do not preclude future unpreplanned exploitation. Other approaches are needed to optimize the use of pre-acquired data and knowledge. Examples already exist.