What is the Sloan Digital Sky Survey?
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is one of the most ambitious scientific projects of all time. Its goal is to make a high-quality three-dimensional map of the universe. The survey uses a specially-built 2.5-meter telescope in New Mexico and a CCD camera to take images of about one-quarter of the night sky. It uses sophisticated software and databases to store and analyze its data. The SDSS began in June 1998. So far, it has taken images of 300 million objects. The survey has already completed a preliminary map of the universe: you can see the map in our First Discoveries section.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) was one of the most ambitious scientific projects of all time. Its primary science goal was to make a high-quality three-dimensional map of the universe. The survey used a specially-built 2.5-meter telescope in New Mexico and a CCD camera to take images of about one-quarter of the night sky. It entire dataset is now available online to astronomers and the general public. The SDSS has taken images of more than 300 million objects. The survey has already completed a preliminary map of the universe, and has made many scientific discoveries from our Solar System to the edge of the Universe. The SDSS’s discoveries are detailed in the Science section of the sdss.org website (link opens in a new window).
