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The Scope of DR10

Data Release 10 (DR10), made publicly available in July 2013, contains the full imaging survey from the SDSS imaging camera, all of the spectra from the original SDSS 640-fiber spectrograph data, and an additional 684,000 new spectra from the BOSS 1000-fiber spectrograph. DR10 also contains the first data release from the SDSS-III APOGEE spectrograph, with spectra of 57,454 stars. This page describes the scope of DR10 data.

The new data in DR10 are:

  1. 684,000 new optical spectra from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), and new reductions for all BOSS spectra
  2. Entirely new high resolution, infrared spectra for 57,454 Milky Way stars from the SDSS-III Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), with stellar parameters, elemental abundances, and precise radial velocities

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SDSS-III has committed to publicly release its raw and reduced data sets. We are doing so using the Catalog Archive Server for retrieval of catalog data from a powerful SQL database and a Science Archive Server for retrieval of calibrated spectra and images.

Optical Data

SDSS Optical data encompass the entirety of the original SDSS-I and -II imaging and spectroscopy, along with the follow-on SEGUE and BOSS surveys. All data previously released in DR1-DR9 are included in DR10.

To check whether a location is covered in DR10 optical data, please use the form below. Enter RA/Dec coordinates in the box, in decimal degrees, and click Submit. Your coordinates will be loaded into the DR10 Science Archive Server (SAS). If your point is in the DR10 optical survey area, results will include links to all available SDSS imaging and optical spectroscopic data.

SDSS Optical Data RA/Dec
Coverage Check:
DR10 optical spectroscopic coverage
DR10 imaging and optical spectroscopic coverage in Equatorial coordinates (plot centered at RA = 6h, or 90 deg.)

The optical data are defined as a set of photometric runs and a set of spectroscopic plates (see the basics on imaging and spectroscopy). We provide links here to ASCII and FITS lists of the runs and the plates. These lists are essentially a summary of all of the data in the data release.

Optical imaging data statistics

Total unique area covered 14,555 square degrees
Total area of imaging (including overlaps) 31,637 square degrees (excluding supernova runs)
Individual image field size 1361x2048 pixels (0.0337 square degrees)
Number of individual fields 938,046 (excluding supernova runs)
Number of catalog objects 1,231,051,050
Number of unique detections 932,891,133
Number of unique, primary sources
Total469,053,874
Stars260,562,744
Galaxies208,478,448
Unknown12,682
Effective wavelengths and magnitude limits
(95% completeness for point sources)
u g r i z
3551 Å 4686 Å 6165 Å 7481 Å 8931 Å
22.0 22.2 22.2 21.3 20.5
Median PSF FWHM, r-band 1.3 arcsec
Pixel scale 0.396 arcsec
Exposure time per band 53.9 sec
Time difference between observations of each band 71.72 sec (in riuzg order)
Relative photometric calibration accuracy (RMS)
(Padmanabhan et al. 2008)
u g r i z
1.3% 0.8% 0.8% 0.7% 0.8%
Global astrometric precision 0.1 arcsec rms (absolute)

Optical spectroscopic data statistics

SDSS spectrograph BOSS spectrograph
Area covered
Full unique coverage 9274 square degrees
SEGUE-1 coverage 1438 square degrees
SEGUE-2 coverage 1317 square degrees
Legacy coverage 7966 square degrees
Full unique coverage 6,373 square degrees
Number of plates
Category Total Good/
marginal		 Primary
All programs 2880 2764 2654
Legacy 1926 1869 1794
SEGUE-1 442 427 407
SEGUE-2 211 211 204
Special 301 257 246
Category Total Good/
marginal		 Primary
All programs 1622 1515 1489
BOSS 1545 1485 1467
Special 77 30 22
Plate area 1.49 deg radius, 6.97 deg2 1.49 deg radius, 6.97 deg2
Fibers per plate 640 1000
Numbers of spectra
Category Total On good or
marginal plates 		Unique
All programs 1,843,200 1,768,960 1,629,129
Main galaxy targets 778,410 755,111 711,726
LRG targets (excluding Main) 106,650 103,662 95,990
SEGUE-1 targets 250,422 242,008 220,851
SEGUE-2 targets 128,112 128,112 118,151
Stars 600,967 577,157 521,990
Galaxies 952,740 921,007 860,836
Quasars 130,300 126,368 116,003
Skies 110,288 103,046 93,187
Unknown 48,905 41,382 37,113
Category Total Unique
Total 1,507,954 1,391,792
Stars 159,327 144,968
Galaxies 927,844 859,322
Quasars 182,009 166,300
Sky 144,503 138,491
Unknown 101,550 89,003
Wavelength coverage 3800 to 9200 Å 3600 to 10,400 Å
Resolution 1800 to 2000 1400 to 2600 Å
Median S/N at g(fiber) = 20.2 mag, 4.2 per pixel (Legacy)
7.0 per pixel (SEGUE-1, -2)		 at i(fiber) = 21 mag, 6.1 per pixel
Typical redshift accuracy 30 km/s rms for main galaxy sample (from repeat observations)
4.0 km/s rms for SEGUE near g=18th mag (from repeat observations)
1.8 km/s systematic limit for high signal-to-noise stars 		65 km/s rms for Luminous Galaxy sample (from repeat observations)
1.8 km/s systematic limit for high signal-to-noise stars
Approximate magnitude limits
(Corrected for Galactic dust extinction)
Main sample galaxies Petrosian r < 17.77 Strauss et al. (2002)
Luminous Red Galaxies Petrosian r < 19.2 Eisenstein et al. (2001)
z < 3 quasars PSF i < 19.1 Richards et al. (2002)
z > 3 quasars PSF i < 20.2 Richards et al. (2002)
SEGUE-1 Faint PSF 17.8 < r < 20.1 Yanny et al. (2009)
SEGUE-1 Bright PSF r < 17.8 Yanny et al. (2009)
SEGUE-2 PSF r < 20.2
Luminous Galaxies i < 19.9 White et al. (2011)
Quasars g < 22
i < 22		 Ross et al. (2012)

Infrared (APOGEE) Data

DR10 includes the first data released by the APOGEE survey. SDSS APOGEE infrared spectroscopy data are defined by a set of field centers, defined in galactic coordiantes. Each field may have had multiple plates observed. (See the APOGEE target selection documentation for more on the concepts of fields and plates.)

APOGEE Coverage Map
Index map showing locations of APOGEE fields with spectra in DR10.
Note that different fields have been visited different numbers of times, and not all fields have been completed. The figure is an Aitoff projection of 2MASS survey data in galactic coordiantes.

The links below provide FITS lists of the field centers, associated plates, and the dates those plates were were observed. See the APOGEE infrared spectroscopic data page for more details.

More APOGEE fields will be included in Data Releases 11 and 12.

Infrared (APOGEE) spectroscopic data statistics

Data
Category Dates Observed (inclusive) MJD
Commissioning 2011 May 22 - 2011 Jul 18 55703-55760
Survey Year 1 2010 Aug 31 - 2012 Jul 13 55804-56121
Number of plates
Category Total
All plates 281
Commissioning 51
Survey Year 1 232
Note: Some plates were observed in both phases
Number of visits
Category Total
All visits 684
Commissioning 98
Survey Year 1 586
Plate area
Plate radius is a function of target selection.
1.49 deg radius, 6.97 deg2
0.99 deg radius, 3.08 deg2
0.89 deg radius, 2.49 deg2
0.75 deg radius, 1.77 deg2
0.50 deg radius, 0.79 deg2
Fibers per plate
(for standard survey and ancillary programs)
Total 300
Science 230
Telluric Standard 35
Sky 35
Numbers of stellar spectra
Category Visits Unique Objects
Total 178,397 57,454
Survey Stars 153,454 47,452
Ancillary Targets 8,894 3,344
Telluric Standards 24,283 7,003
Wavelength coverage 1.51 to 1.69 μm
Resolution R = 21,500-24,000 depending on wavelength and fiber.
Spectral Sampling
Category 1.51-1.58μm 1.58-1.645μm 1.645-1.695μm
Single Exposure 0.326 Å/pixel 0.283 Å/pixel 0.236 Å/pixel
Dithered Pair 0.163 Å/pixel 0.142 Å/pixel 0.118 Å/pixel
Median S/N
at H = 11.0, S/N ~ 100 per dithered pixel in 1 hours total exposure
at H = 12.2, S/N ~ 100 per dithered pixel in 3 hours total exposure
Typical velocity accuracy < 100 m/s per visit with S/N > 20
Approximate magnitude limits
(at S/N = 100 per dithered pixel for completed plates)
1 hour field H < 11.0
3 hour field H < 12.2
10 hour field H < 12.8
24 hour field H < 13.2

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