The Astro-Wise System: A Federated Information Accumulator for Astronomy- III

The core of the system exploits
three properties in database
environment. First, we apply the
principle of inheritance using
Object Oriented Programming
(Python), where all Astro-Wise
objects inherit key properties for
database access, such as persistency
of attributes. Second, the
linking (associations or references)
between instances of
objects in the database is completely
maintained, and for each

bit of information, it is possible to trace
those bits of information that were used
to obtain it. Third, each step, and the
inputs used for it, is kept within the
system. The database grows constantly
through the addition of new information
or improvements made to existing information.
All system components are distributed
over Europe, enabling research groups to
collaborate on shared projects.
Knowledge added by one group is
immediately accessible by others via a
Web portal, which includes data
viewing, quality labelling and computeservices
(see links). Currently,
researchers use the Astro-Wise system
with 10 Tbyte of astronomical images.
Hundreds of Tbytes of data will start
entering the system when the
OmegaCAM panoramic camera starts
operations in Chile. This camera is dedicated
to various large surveys using the
Astro-Wise system.
Astro-Wise coordinator OmegaCENNOVA
is collaborating with the LOFAR
consortium and CWI to explore usage of
the Astro-Wise system for LOFAR, the
next generation Low Frequency Array of
radio telescopes, which is being built in
the Netherlands and Germany. Astro-
Wise can also be applied to other fields
of science. The object-oriented use of
the database allows for classes of objects
dealing with arbitrary forms of digitized
observational data. Scans of cultural heritage,
DNA sequences, data from highenergy
particle collisions or financial
markets can be processed using similar
principles to the images of the sky.