This node contains data from the fifth data release (DR5) of SDSS. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is the most ambitious astronomical survey ever undertaken. The survey will map one-quarter of the entire sky in detail, determining the positions and absolute brightnesses of hundreds of millions of celestial objects. It will also measure the distances to more than a million galaxies and quasars. The SDSS addresses fascinating, fundamental questions about the universe. With the survey, astronomers will be able to see the large-scale patterns of galaxies: sheets and voids through the whole universe. Scientists have many ideas about how the universe evolved, and different patterns of large-scale structure point to different theories. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey will tell us which theories are right - or whether we will have to come up with entirely new ideas.
