Feeding an astrophysical database via distributed computing resources: The case of BaSTI

Stellar evolution model databases, spanning a wide ranges of masses and initial chemical compositions, are nowadays a major tool to study Galactic and extragalactic stellar populations. The Bag of Stellar Tracks and Isochrones (BaSTI) database is a VO-compliant theoretical astrophysical catalogue that collects fundamental datasets involving stars formation and evolution. The creation of this database implies a large number of stellar evolutionary computations that are extremely demanding in term of computing power. Here we discuss the efforts devoted to create and update the database using Distributed Computing Infrastructures and a Science Gateway and its future developments within the framework of the Italian Virtual Observatory project.