On October 13, the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) announced a partnership with the Alibaba Group on astronomy research using big data, which involves Alibaba's cloud computing unit, Aliyun, to establish a big data research center with an open online database of astronomical information that enables users to explore the cosmos via a virtual space observatory.

The center will also be able to support scientific research with cloud computing, with Yan Jun, Head of NAOC, explaining that astronomy was one of the first disciplines to utilize data science and noting that big data opens up new opportunities for astronomical research but also faces some challenges in data collection, transportation, storage, processing, analysis, and sharing.

The volume of data collected through astronomical observation is expected to balloon to 250 trillion bytes a year and NAOC's partnership with Aliyun, whose strength lies in artificial intelligence(AI) and big-scale computing, is expected to help upgrade China's capability in basic research regarding astronomy.

In a pilot project for the virtual space observatory, scientists will be able to upload and share data collected by the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope(LAMOST), also known as Guo Shoujing Telescope. This is a leading optical telescope project that began operation in 2008 collecting high quality spectra, which are important in helping astronomers studying the chemical composition, density, atmosphere and magnetism of celestial bodies.

Source:Xinhua