Insights from a 30-Year international Partnership on Astronomical Archives

TL;DR

This paper reviews a 30-year international collaboration among major astronomical data centers, emphasizing its evolution, key innovations, challenges faced, and strategies for enhancing data sharing and accessibility in astronomy.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the long-term collaborative efforts and technological advancements in astronomical data archives over three decades.

Findings

Successful international partnership facilitated data exchange from major telescopes.

Key innovations improved decision-making, communication, and technology in data sharing.

Strategies developed to overcome challenges in long-term collaboration.

Abstract

In an era where astronomical data is expanding at an unprecedented rate, the importance of data sharing and accessibility among astronomy archives cannot be overstated. Since the 1990s, an international partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC) has been focused on this endeavor, facilitating the exchange of data from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. We will present how this collaboration has evolved over time, highlighting key milestones and innovations in decision-making, communication, and technology. Additionally, we will discuss some of the challenges we have encountered and the strategies we employed to overcome them, offering insights that could benefit future archive collaborations.