Galaxy formation and evolution using multi-wavelength, multi-resolution imaging data in the Virtual Observatory

Observational astronomy is entering an exciting new era with large surveys delivering deep multi-wavelength data over a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The last ten years has seen a growth in the study of high redshift galaxies discovered with the method pioneered by Steidel et al. (1995) used to identify galaxies above z>1. The technique is designed to take advantage of the multi-wavelength data now available for astronomers that can extend from X-rays to radio wavelength. The technique is fast becoming a useful way to study large samples of objects at these high redshifts and we are currently designing and implementing an automated technique to study these samples of objects. However, large surveys produce large data sets that have now reached terabytes (e.g. for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, http://www.sdss.org) in size and petabytes over the next 10yr (e.g., LSST, http://www.lsst.org). The Virtual Observatory is now providing a means to deal with this issue and users are now able to access many data sets in a quicker more useful form.