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arXiv · 1501.00963

The Eleventh and Twelfth Data Releases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Final Data from SDSS-III

Shadab Alam·Franco D. Albareti·Carlos Allende Prieto·F. Anders·Scott F. Anderson·Brett H. Andrews·Eric Armengaud·Éric Aubourg·Stephen Bailey·Julian E. Bautista·Rachael L. Beaton·Timothy C. Beers·Chad F. Bender·Andreas A. Berlind·Florian Beutler·Vaishali Bhardwaj·Jonathan C. Bird·Dmitry Bizyaev·Cullen H. Blake·Michael R. Blanton·Michael Blomqvist·John J. Bochanski·Adam S. Bolton·Jo Bovy·A. Shelden Bradley·W. N. Brandt·D. E. Brauer·J. Brinkmann·Peter J. Brown·Joel R. Brownstein·Angela Burden·Etienne Burtin·Nicolás G. Busca·Zheng Cai·Diego Capozzi·Aurelio Carnero Rosell·Ricardo Carrera·Yen-Chi Chen·Cristina Chiappini·S. Drew Chojnowski·Chia-Hsun Chuang·Nicolas Clerc·Johan Comparat·Kevin Covey·Rupert A. C. Croft·Antonio J. Cuesta·Katia Cunha·Luiz N. da Costa·Nicola Da Rio·James R. A. Davenport·Kyle S. Dawson·Nathan De Lee·Timothée Delubac·Rohit Deshpande·Letícia Dutra-Ferreira·Tom Dwelly·Anne Ealet·Garrett L. Ebelke·Edward M. Edmondson·Daniel J. Eisenstein·Stephanie Escoffier·Massimiliano Esposito·Xiaohui Fan·Emma Fernández-Alvar·Diane Feuillet·Nurten Filiz Ak·Hayley Finley·Alexis Finoguenov·Kevin Flaherty·Scott W. Fleming·Andreu Font-Ribera·Jonathan Foster·Peter M. Frinchaboy·J. G. Galbraith-Frew·D. A. García-Hernández·Ana E. García Pérez·Patrick Gaulme·Jian Ge·R. Génova-Santos·Luan Ghezzi·Bruce A. Gillespie·Léo Girardi·Daniel Goddard·Satya Gontcho A Gontcho·Jonay I. González Hernández·Eva K. Grebel·Jan Niklas Grieb·Nolan Grieves·James E. Gunn·Hong Guo·Paul Harding·Sten Hasselquist·Suzanne L. Hawley·Michael Hayden·Fred R. Hearty·Shirley Ho·David W. Hogg·Kelly Holley-Bockelmann·Jon A. Holtzman·Klaus Honscheid
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Abstract

The third generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III) took data from 2008 to 2014 using the original SDSS wide-field imager, the original and an upgraded multi-object fiber-fed optical spectrograph, a new near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph, and a novel optical interferometer. All the data from SDSS-III are now made public. In particular, this paper describes Data Release 11 (DR11) including all data acquired through 2013 July, and Data Release 12 (DR12) adding data acquired through 2014 July (including all data included in previous data releases), marking the end of SDSS-III observing. Relative to our previous public release (DR10), DR12 adds one million new spectra of galaxies and quasars from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) over an additional 3000 sq. deg of sky, more than triples the number of H-band spectra of stars as part of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), and includes repeated accurate radial velocity measurements of 5500 stars from the Multi-Object APO Radial Velocity Exoplanet Large-area Survey (MARVELS). The APOGEE outputs now include measured abundances of 15 different elements for each star. In total, SDSS-III added 2350 sq. deg of ugriz imaging; 155,520 spectra of 138,099 stars as part of the Sloan Exploration of Galactic Understanding and Evolution 2 (SEGUE-2) survey; 2,497,484 BOSS spectra of 1,372,737 galaxies, 294,512 quasars, and 247,216 stars over 9376 sq. deg; 618,080 APOGEE spectra of 156,593 stars; and 197,040 MARVELS spectra of 5,513 stars. Since its first light in 1998, SDSS has imaged over 1/3 of the Celestial sphere in five bands and obtained over five million astronomical spectra.

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Shadab Alam, Franco D. Albareti, Carlos Allende Prieto, F. Anders, Scott F. Anderson, Brett H. Andrews, Eric Armengaud, Éric Aubourg, Stephen Bailey, Julian E. Bautista, Rachael L. Beaton, Timothy C. Beers, Chad F. Bender, Andreas A. Berlind, Florian Beutler, Vaishali Bhardwaj, Jonathan C. Bird, Dmitry Bizyaev, Cullen H. Blake, Michael R. Blanton, Michael Blomqvist, John J. Bochanski, Adam S. Bolton, Jo Bovy, A. Shelden Bradley, W. N. Brandt, D. E. Brauer, J. Brinkmann, Peter J. Brown, Joel R. Brownstein, Angela Burden, Etienne Burtin, Nicolás G. Busca, Zheng Cai, Diego Capozzi, Aurelio Carnero Rosell, Ricardo Carrera, Yen-Chi Chen, Cristina Chiappini, S. Drew Chojnowski, Chia-Hsun Chuang, Nicolas Clerc, Johan Comparat, Kevin Covey, Rupert A. C. Croft, Antonio J. Cuesta, Katia Cunha, Luiz N. da Costa, Nicola Da Rio, James R. A. Davenport, Kyle S. Dawson, Nathan De Lee, Timothée Delubac, Rohit Deshpande, Letícia Dutra-Ferreira, Tom Dwelly, Anne Ealet, Garrett L. Ebelke, Edward M. Edmondson, Daniel J. Eisenstein, Stephanie Escoffier, Massimiliano Esposito, Xiaohui Fan, Emma Fernández-Alvar, Diane Feuillet, Nurten Filiz Ak, Hayley Finley, Alexis Finoguenov, Kevin Flaherty, Scott W. Fleming, Andreu Font-Ribera, Jonathan Foster, Peter M. Frinchaboy, J. G. Galbraith-Frew, D. A. García-Hernández, Ana E. García Pérez, Patrick Gaulme, Jian Ge, R. Génova-Santos, Luan Ghezzi, Bruce A. Gillespie, Léo Girardi, Daniel Goddard, Satya Gontcho A Gontcho, Jonay I. González Hernández, Eva K. Grebel, Jan Niklas Grieb, Nolan Grieves, James E. Gunn, Hong Guo, Paul Harding, Sten Hasselquist, Suzanne L. Hawley, Michael Hayden, Fred R. Hearty, Shirley Ho, David W. Hogg, Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, Jon A. Holtzman, Klaus Honscheid. 2015-05-21. The Eleventh and Twelfth Data Releases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Final Data from SDSS-III. https://doi.org/10.1088/0067-0049%2F219%2F1%2F12

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