The Cosmic Web
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Mapping the Universe

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has created the most detailed three-dimensional maps of the Universe ever made, with deep multi-color images of one third of the sky, and spectra for more than three million astronomical objects. Learn and explore all phases and surveys—past, present, and future—of the SDSS.

If you are looking for information about the newest phase of the SDSS, visit our current phase website at www.sdss.org

Go to sdss.org


EXPLORE OUR DATA

Go to Data Access

Current data: Data Release 17

Current Data Releases

DR17 is the current and final data release of SDSS-IV. Find out more about the content of DR17 on the What’s New in DR17 webpage.

Future Data Releases

SDSS-V started observing in October 2020, and expects its first data release to take place at the end of 2022.

Surveys in SDSS-V include Milky Way Mapper, Local Volume Mapper and Black Hole Mapper.

News

SDSS Press Releases

SDSS Science Blog


The SDSS began regular survey operations in 2000, after a decade of design and construction.  It has progressed through several phases, SDSS-I (2000-2005), SDSS-II (2005-2008), SDSS-III (2008-2014), and SDSS-IV (2014-2020).  Each of these phases has involved multiple surveys with interlocking science goals.  The three surveys that comprise SDSS-IV are eBOSS (including SPIDERS and TDSS), APOGEE-2, and MaNGA (including MaStar), described at the links below.  You can find more about the surveys of SDSS I-III by following the Prior Surveys link. SDSS-V (2020 – ) will be the next SDSS phase, and more information on its surveys is available through the Future Pages.

APOGEE-2

Exploring the Milky Way from both hemispheres

Explore

eBOSS

Surveying galaxies and quasars to measure the Universe

Explore

MaNGA

Mapping the inner workings of thousands of nearby galaxies

Explore

Prior Surveys

Discovering the Universe at all scales

Explore


Acknowledgments

Funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, and the Participating Institutions. SDSS acknowledges support and resources from the Center for High-Performance Computing at the University of Utah. The SDSS web site is www.sdss4.org.

SDSS is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions of the SDSS Collaboration including the Brazilian Participation Group, the Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), the Chilean Participation Group, the French Participation Group, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, The Johns Hopkins University, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU) / University of Tokyo, the Korean Participation Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Leibniz Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA Heidelberg), Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik (MPA Garching), Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), National Astronomical Observatories of China, New Mexico State University, New York University, University of Notre Dame, Observatório Nacional / MCTI, The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, United Kingdom Participation Group, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, University of Arizona, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Oxford, University of Portsmouth, University of Utah, University of Virginia, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University.