|
Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is
systematically mapping a quarter of the entire sky, producing a detailed image
of it, and determining the positions and absolute brightness of more than 100
million celestial objects. It is also measuring the distances to a million of
the nearest galaxies, giving us a three-dimensional picture of the universe
through a volume one hundred times larger than that explored to date. SDSS is
also recording the distances to 100,000 quasars, the most distant objects
known, giving us unprecedented knowledge of the distribution of matter to
the edge of the visible universe.
Over the course of five years, SDSS-I imaged more than 8,000 square
degrees of the sky in five band passes, detecting nearly 200 million celestial
objects, and it measured spectra of more than 675,000 galaxies, 90,000 quasars,
and 185,000 stars. These data have supported studies ranging from asteroids and
nearby stars to the large scale structure of the Universe.
The most recent data product is DR6, which was released on June, 2007.
|
|