Data-rich astronomy: mining synoptic sky surveys
  In the last decade a new generation of telescopes and sensors has allowed the
production of a very large amount of data and astronomy has become, a data-rich
science; this transition is often labeled as: "data revolution" and "data
tsunami". The first locution puts emphasis on the expectations of the
astronomers while the second stresses, instead, the dramatic problem arising
from this large amount of data: which is no longer computable with traditional
approaches to data storage, data reduction and data analysis. In a new, age new
instruments are necessary, as it happened in the Bronze age when mankind left
the old instruments made out of stone to adopt the new, better ones made with
bronze. Everything changed, even the social structure. In a similar way, this
new age of Astronomy calls for a new generation of tools and, for a new
methodological approach to many problems, and for the acquisition of new
skills. The attems to find a solution to this problems falls under the umbrella
of a new discipline which originated by the intersection of astronomy,
statistics and computer science: Astroinformatics, (Borne, 2009; Djorgovski et
al., 2006).
