"New Astronomy with a Virtual Observatory"

S. G. Djorgovski
Caltech

There has been an unprecedented and continuing growth in the volume, quality,
and complexity of astronomical data sets over the past few years, mainly
through large digital sky surveys, with the data volumes measured in many
Terabytes and soon Petabytes.  This quantitative change in the amount of
information available will lead to a qualitative changes in the ways we
do observational astronomy.  This will include statistical studies with
an unprecedented accuracy (e.g., precision cosmology or Galactic structure),
panchromatic views of the universe (leading to less biased pictures of the
populations of AGN, galaxy clusters, star formation history, etc.), searches
for rare or even previously unknown types of objects, and exploration of
new domains of the parameter space (e.g., variability, low surface brightness
universe, etc.).  A Virtual Observatory (VO) concept represents a research
framework needed to cope with this data flood in an effective way.  There 
are many technological problems posed by the analysis of large and complex 
data sets expected in the VO context, but the most interesting challenges
and opportunities are scientific and methodological.