Astroinformatics: Data-Oriented Astronomy

Abstract. We describe Astroinformatics, the new data science paradigm for astronomy research and education, with a focus on preparing the next generation of scientists with skills in data-oriented science: discover and access large distributed data repositories, conduct meaningful scientific inquiries into the data, mine and analyze the data, and make data-driven scientific discoveries. New modes of discovery are enabled by the growth of data and computational resources in the sciences. This cyberinfrastructure includes databases, virtual ob-servatories (distributed data), high-performance computing (clusters and petas-cale machines), distributed computing (Grid, Cloud), intelligent search and dis-covery tools, and innovative visualization environments [1]. Data volumes from astronomical sky surveys have grown from gigabytes into terabytes during the past decade, and will grow from terabytes into tens (or hundreds) of petabytes in the next decade. This plethora of new data both enables and challenges ef-fective astronomical research, requiring new approaches. Thus far, astronom