The Virtual Observatories (VOs) are an international astronomical community initiative. It aims to allow complete electronic access to the astronomical database of space and ground-based observatories and, also, to enable data analysis techniques through a coordinating entity that provides common standards, wide-network bandwidth, and analysis tools.

The development of a VO is driven by two key factors:

-   We are seeing an explosion in the size of astronomical data sets delivered by new large facilities. The storage and processing capabilities necessary to analyse and explore these databases will greatly exceed the capabilities of astronomical desktop systems.

-   Because these large astronomical databases are unconnected, a great scientific data set are going unexplored and underexploited. When the large surveys and catalogues could be integrated into a uniform and interoperating VO data set, a new and efficient way to work into astronomical research would become feasible.

Astronomers will explore Brazilian VO and other ones using advanced visualization and data mining tools. These one will are a unified data interface to enable cross-correlation and combined processing of data from otherwise disparate sources. The present initiative seeks to bring together astronomers and experts on computer science for the development of a Brazilian Virtual Observatory.