Astrophysics (Index)About

Sloan Digital Sky Survey

(SDSS)
(imaging survey of 500,000,000 objects in 35% of sky)

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) can be considered a continuing series of surveys that began with photometry and continued with spectrography as well. The series is named for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. It images all types of astronomical objects, but a major initial goal was redshifts of galaxies, i.e., to produce a vast 3D map. Surveying began in 2000 and has grown to 35% sky coverage, with photometry of over 500 million objects and spectra of over a million. The median redshift of the galaxies is redshift z = 0.1, reaching as far as z = 0.7, with quasars to redshift z = 6 and beyond. The original survey (now called SDSS-I) produced images using the ugriz photometric system of five passbands:

passband indicatorcentered on
u3551 Åultraviolet
g4686 Ågreen
r6165 Åred
i7481 Ånear infrared
z8931 Åinfrared

Spectrography was carried out on selected galaxies and quasars. The survey was a milestone, providing an improved set of freely-available all-sky research-quality astronomical data, produced using 2000s technology, carried out with a dedicated telescope (the Sloan 2.5m Telescope) at Apache Point Observatory (APO), New Mexico. Subsequent efforts use additional telescopes, including the du Pont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, adding coverage of more of the southern hemisphere. SDSS efforts:

Among the sub-surveys:

SDSS-V programs:

To carry out spectrography on so many objects, for years SDSS used a partially manual process with their multi-object spectrograph: fibers were positioned by hand-plugging them into aluminum plates (plug plates) with holes that were pre-drilled at positions corresponding to locations of objects within the field of view. The holes were drilled and their positions verified using machine-controlled equipment. SDSS has now replaced this procedure with robotic fiber positioners. Spectra have been collected on millions of objects.


(survey,photometry,spectrography,all sky)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloan_Digital_Sky_Survey
http://www.sdss.org/
https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.07688
https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9412080
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999RSPTA.357...93M/abstract
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000AJ....120.1579Y/abstract
http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys240/lectures/sdss/sdss.html
PrefixExample  
SDSSSDSS 1346-0031 
SDSSpSDSSp J104433.04-012502.2"provisory"
SegueSegue 2SEGUE discovery

Referenced by pages:
2dF-SDSS LRG and QSO survey (2SLAQ)
APOGEE
astronomical survey
Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT)
baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO)
Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS)
COLD GASS
conditional stellar mass function (CSMF)
data release (DR)
DECaLS
fiber positioner
Field of Streams
G band (G)
Galaxy Zoo
Galaxy Zoo 2 (GZ2)
GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (GASS)
gas fraction estimation
GD-1
griz photometric system
intensity mapping surveys
J designator
luminous red galaxy (LRG)
Lyman break (LB)
MaNGA Stellar Library (MaStar)
Milky Way Mapper (MWM)
Monoceros Ring
multi-object spectrograph
Ogle Galaxy Catalog (OGC)
Orphan stream
Pantheon
pea galaxy (GP)
photometric system
plate
R band
redshift survey
Ritchey-Chrétien telescope (RCT)
SDSS-DR12 Quasars (SDSS-DR12Q)
SDSS-DR16 Quasars (SDSS-DR16Q)
SkyMapper Southern Survey (SMSS)
Sloan 2.5m Telescope
Sloan Great Wall (SGW)
supernova survey
TiNy Titans (TNT)
ugriz photometric system
UKIDSS
ultra-faint dwarf galaxy (UFD)
Ursa Major II Dwarf
Virgo Stellar Stream
VLT Survey Telescope (VST)

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