Press Releases

Almost a Million Stars and Counting: Mapping the history of the Milky Way with APOGEE and beyond

On December 6th 2021, scientists from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) released the largest-ever detailed census of stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, with the complete release of data from its Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE).

Galaxies, Assemble!: MaNGA team releases largest-ever collection of 3-D maps of nearby galaxies

Just over a month ago, scientists from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) released the complete dataset of 10,000 galaxies observed by the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) project, making MaNGA the largest galaxy survey of its kind.

SDSS-V’s robots turn their eyes to the sky

After twenty-one years of observers loading heavy aluminum plates night after night, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is now seeing the cosmos through robotic eyes. Following more than five years of design, development and construction, survey members worked over the final months of 2021 to install the new robotic Focal Plane System (FPS) on the Sloan Foundation 2.5m Telescope at Apache Point Observatory (APO).

Museum visitors touch an SDSS plate as part of Tim Fitzpatrick's interactive exhibit

Serving up the Universe on a plate

They may not look like much — just metal disks 80 centimeters (30 inches) across with some etched markings and hundreds of small holes — but round aluminum “plates” like this one from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have been vital to mapping our universe for more than 20 years.

The Milky Way does the Wave

In results announced this week at the 237th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, scientists from the Sloan Digital Sky survey present the most detailed look yet at the warp of our own Galaxy.

A Giant Meal for a Dwarf: Astronomers examine symbiotic stars in nearby galaxies

Astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey have, for the first time, revealed details of how red giant stars in other galaxies feed their white dwarf companions.

Beautiful Complexity: Citizen scientists help unlock the full potential of a galaxy survey

Sometimes even the most powerful computer is no match for the human mind.

More than 8000 citizen scientists from around the world joined together online to inspect galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with Galaxy Zoo 3D, part of the Zooniverse.org citizen science platform.

Untangling the streamers in the Milky Way

Scientists from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Explorer (APOGEE) survey, part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), have presented results that help pinpoint the origin of one of the most recently discovered stellar streams in the Milky Way.

An all-sky view of the Milky Way from Earth (that is, a side view from within). Just left of center are a series of ellipses, extending top to bottom and about 1/5 of the way out, marking the location of Heracles.

Astronomers Discover New “Fossil Galaxy” Buried Deep Within the Milky Way

Scientists working with data from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys’ Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) have discovered a “fossil galaxy” hidden in the depths of our own Milky Way.

No need to Mind the Gap: Astrophysicists fill in 11 billion years of our universe’s expansion history

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) released today a comprehensive analysis of the largest three-dimensional map of the Universe ever created, filling in the most significant gaps in our possible exploration of its history.