The Fourth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

J. K. Adelman-McCarthy, M. A. Agüeros, S. S. Allam, K. S. J. Anderson, S. F. Anderson, J. Annis, N. A. Bahcall, I. K. Baldry, J. C. Barentine, A. Berlind, M. Bernardi, M. R. Blanton, W. N. Boroski, H. J. Brewington, J. Brinchmann, J. Brinkmann, R. J. Brunner, T. Budavári, L. N. Carey, M. A. Carr, F. J. Castander, A. J. Connolly, I. Csabai, P. C. Czarapata, J. J. Dalcanton, M. Doi, F. Dong, D. J. Eisenstein, M. L. Evans, X. Fan, D. P. Finkbeiner, S. D. Friedman, J. A. Frieman, M. Fukugita, B. Gillespie, K. Glazebrook, J. Gray, E. K. Grebel, J. E. Gunn, V. K. Gurbani, E. de Haas, P. B. Hall, F. H. Harris, M. Harvanek, S. L. Hawley, J. Hayes, J. S. Hendry, G. S. Hennessy, R. B. Hindsley, C. M. Hirata, C. J. Hogan, D. W. Hogg, D. J. Holmgren, J. A. Holtzman, Shin-ichi Ichikawa, ´. Ivezić, S. Jester, D. E. Johnston, A. M. Jorgensen, M. Jurić, S. M. Kent, S. J. Kleinman, G. R. Knapp, A. Y. Kniazev, R. G. Kron, J. Krzesiński, N. Kuropatkin, D. Q. Lamb, H. Lampeitl, B. C. Lee, R. F. Leger, H. Lin, D. C. Long, J Loveday, R. H. Lupton, B. Margon, D. Martínez-Delgado, R. Mandelbaum, T. Matsubara, P. M. McGehee, T. A. McKay, A. Meiksin, J. A. Munn, R. Nakajima, T. Nash, Eric H. Neilsen, H. J. Newberg, P. R. Newman, R. C. Nichol, T. Nicinski, M. Nieto-Santisteban, A. Nitta, W. O'Mullane, S. Okamura, R. Owen, N. Padmanabhan, G. Pauls, John Peoples, J. R. Pier, A. C. Pope, D. Pourbaix, T. R. Quinn, G. T. Richards, M. W. Richmond, C. M. Rockosi, D. J. Schlegel, D. P. Schneider, J. Schroeder, R. Scranton, U. Seljak, E. Sheldon, K. Shimasaku, J. A. Smith, V. Smolčić, S. A. Snedden, C. Stoughton, M. A. Strauss, M. SubbaRao, A. S. Szalay, I. Szapudi, P. Szkody, M. Tegmark, A. R. Thakar, D. L. Tucker, A. Uomoto, D. E. Vanden Berk, J. Vandenberg, M. S. Vogeley, W. Voges, N. P. Vogt, L. M. Walkowicz, D. H. Weinberg, A. A. West, S. D. M. White, Y. Xu, B. Yanny, D. R. Yocum, D. G. York, I. Zehavi, S. Zibetti, D. B. Zucker

Abstract
This paper describes the Fourth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), including all survey-quality data taken through 2004 June. The data release includes five-band photometric data for 180 million objects selected over 6670 deg² and 673,280 spectra of galaxies, quasars, and stars selected from 4783 deg² of those imaging data using the standard SDSS target selection algorithms. These numbers represent a roughly 27% increment over those of the Third Data Release; all the data from previous data releases are included in the present release. The Fourth Data Release also includes an additional 131,840 spectra of objects selected using a variety of alternative algorithms, to address scientific issues ranging from the kinematics of stars in the Milky Way thick disk to populations of faint galaxies and quasars.

The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Volume 162, Page 38
January 2006

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