Research Astronomy In Southern NM: Insights From the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Jon Holtzman NMSU Department of Astronomy

Apache Point Observatory (+National Solar Observatory in back)

Sloan Digital Sky Survey Telescope SDSS I ( ): Mapping the Universe / Properties of Galaxies SDSS II ( ): Mapping the Milky Way halo / Searching for Supernova SDSS III ( ): Distant galaxies / Milky Way disk / Survey for massive planets

Galaxies: building blocks of the Universe

Mapping the Universe in 3D: Images and Spectra

The Universe as a Sum of Waves

Ripples in the Universe

Distant quasars and the end of the Cosmic Dark Ages

The Halo of the Milky Way

Assembly of the Milky Way

Supernovae and Dark Energy

Discovering Solar System objects with the SDSS SN Survey ! Objects that move are nearby!

… and unusual ones!

In progress: BOSS -- ripples in distant galaxies Extending the 3D map to larger distances == farther back in time Use this to try to study the nature of dark energy

In progress: MARVELS -- a survey for extrasolar giant planets Measure velocities of stars (60 at a time) 30 different times over two years Variations in velocity indicate the presence of planets Large sample of stars used to get better statistics on what types of stars have planets

Coming soon: APOGEE -- The Disk of the Milky Way High resolution infrared spectroscopy of 100,000 stars Measure abundances of different elements Clues about star formation and history of star formation of the Milky Way