The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) will provide the data to support detailed investigations of the distribution of luminous and nonluminous matter in the universe: a photometrically and astrometrically calibrated digital imaging survey of π sr above about Galactic latitude 30° in five broad optical bands to a depth of g' ~ 23 mag, and a spectroscopic survey of the approximately 106 brightest galaxies and 105 brightest quasars found in the photometric object catalog produced by the imaging survey. This paper summarizes the observational parameters and data products of the SDSS and serves as an introduction to extensive technical on-line documentation.