  We analyse the issues involved in the management and mining of astrophysical
data. The traditional approach to data management in the astrophysical field is
not able to keep up with the increasing size of the data gathered by modern
detectors. An essential role in the astrophysical research will be assumed by
automatic tools for information extraction from large datasets, i.e. data
mining techniques, such as clustering and classification algorithms. This asks
for an approach to data management based on data warehousing, emphasizing the
efficiency and simplicity of data access; efficiency is obtained using
multidimensional access methods and simplicity is achieved by properly handling
metadata. Clustering and classification techniques, on large datasets, pose
additional requirements: computational and memory scalability with respect to
the data size, interpretability and objectivity of clustering or classification
results. In this study we address some possible solutions.
