  Virtual Observatory (VO) is a data-intensively online astronomical research
and education environment, which takes advantages of advanced information
technologies to achieve seamless and global access to astronomical information.
AstroCloud is a cyber-infrastructure for astronomy research initiated by
Chinese Virtual Observatory (China-VO) project, and also a kind of physical
distributed platform which integrates lots of tasks such as telescope access
proposal management, data archiving, data quality control, data release and
open access, cloud based data processing and analysis. It consists of five
application channels, i.e. observation, data, tools, cloud and public and is
acting as a full lifecycle management system and gateway for astronomical data
and telescopes. Physically, the platform is hosted in six cities currently,
i.e. Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Kunming, Lijiang and Urumqi, and serving more
than 17 thousand users. Achievements from international Virtual Observatories
and Cloud Computing are adopted heavily. In the paper, backgrounds of the
project, architecture, Cloud Computing environment, key features of the system,
current status and future plans are introduced.
