Sloan Digital Sky Survey

SDSS at Apache Point Observatory

Exploiting the unique wide-field spectroscopic capability of the Apache Point Observatory's 2.5-meter telescope, the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is one of the primary missions of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS3) which will gather spectra of 1.5 million luminous red galaxies out to a redshift of z=0.7 across 10,000 square degrees of the sky, and 160,000 quasars at redshifts 2.2 < z < 3, across 8,000 square degrees of the sky. These maps are needed to make improved measurements of the expanding Universe and Dark Energy content.

The BOSS spectra will be used by researchers at the University of Utah to discover Galaxy-Galaxy Lenses to add to the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) survey, to search for Supernovae, to characterize the population of galaxies in groups and clusters, and to constrain modified gravity theories.