Where the Rubber Meets the Sky: Bridging the Gap between Databases and Science

Scientists in all domains face a data avalanche – both from better instruments and from improved simulations. We believe that computer science tools and computer scientists are in a position to help all the sciences by building tools and developing techniques to manage, analyze, and visualize peta-scale scientific information. This article is summarizes our experiences over the last seven years trying to bridge the gap between database technology and the needs of the astronomy community in building the World-Wide Telescope.