The first of four short films invites viewers to discover the powerful telescopes and groundbreaking science behind the search to map the entire night sky.
News
This page shows our official press releases announcing discoveries during the current fifth phase of the SDSS. For more discoveries, see the press releases of the previous generations of the SDSS, listed at the bottom of this page.
Sloan Digital Sky Survey Launches Data Release 20
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has officially launched its twentieth data release (DR20), marking the third data release for the fifth phase of the survey (SDSS-V). DR20 represents a massive operational expansion of the foundations laid in prior releases.
Mapping Monsters: SDSS-V Data Release 20 Unveils All-Sky Views of Supermassive Black Holes
The Black Hole Mapper reaches a milestone with its first southern hemisphere optical observations, coordinated eROSITA X-ray identification, and multi-epoch tracking of accreting black holes across the universe.
Cosmic Mayhem in High Definition: The Local Volume Mapper Unveils Hyperspectral Maps of Galactic Nurseries
LAS CAMPANAS OBSERVATORY, CHILE — While the Milky Way appears from Earth as a serene, glowing band stretching across the night sky, zoom in closely and a picture of dynamic cosmic mayhem emerges. Galaxies are living, evolving ecosystems driven by the lifecycles of their stars. Massive stars are born in cold molecular clouds, live short, […]
Charting the Galaxy: SDSS-V Releases Latest All-Sky Spectra Including First Optical Spectra from the Southern Hemisphere
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) has announced its twentieth public data release (DR20), delivering a dramatic expansion of the Milky Way Mapper (MWM) scientific survey—the most detailed spectroscopic map yet assembled of stars in and around our home galaxy.
“Ancient Immigrant” star puzzles, delights astronomers
A class of undergraduate students at University of Chicago has used data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to discover one of the oldest stars in the universe, a star that formed in a companion galaxy and migrated to the Milky Way. The ten students found the star as part of their “Field Course […]
Read More ““Ancient Immigrant” star puzzles, delights astronomers”
Black Holes Flip Galaxies
Astronomers have discovered that many small galaxies hosting active supermassive black holes have their stars and gas spinning out of sync – sometimes in completely opposite directions.
Spinning black holes reveal how they grew
A new study from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has revealed a surprising truth about black holes: they spin faster than previously thought, revealing a more orderly early universe than we ever suspected.
Robotic SDSS Telescopes Begin a New Era in Mapping the Interstellar Regions of the Milky Way
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is embarking on its most innovative spectroscopic survey yet of our Milky Way: creating a comprehensive map of the interstellar material in our Galaxy.
SDSS astronomers observe theoretically predicted effect in the remnants of dead stars
A student-led team has observed that the mass-radius relation of white dwarf stars, a type of star which is so dense that they are supported by quantum mechanical effects, depends on the temperature of the star. Scientists have long searched for this subtle effect, detected here for the first time using a method from General Relativity – along with the largest catalog of white dwarf data of its kind.
Read MoreSDSS astronomers observe theoretically predicted effect in the remnants of dead stars
Older Press Releases
For a list of press releases from previous generations of the SDSS, see the lists on their project websites: