Available Tools for Data Access
This page describes several tools for accessing the SDSS data: the Catalog Archive Server (CAS), the Science Archive Server (SAS), and direct data file access via rsync, wget, or http.
Catalog Archive Server (CAS)
Catalog data are available through SkyServer (also known as the Catalog Archive Server, or CAS). SkyServer also offers interactive tools to browse through SDSS images with links to associated spectra and catalog data about the objects on the images.
- DR17 SkyServer
- Interactive query tools for CAS
- SkyServer Imaging Query Form
- Simple image query form interface
- SkyServer Spectroscopic Query Form
- Simple spectroscopic query form interface
- SkyServer Cross-ID
- Match list of RA/Dec or IDs to imaging or spectroscopic catalog
- Image List
- Generate JPGs for a large set of objects
- SkyServer Navigate
- Point-and-click interface to JPG image of SDSS sky
- SciServer Compute
- Retrieve and analyze SDSS data using Python code running online
- CASJobs
- CAS SQL advanced user interface (use DR17 context)
The advanced DR17 CasJobs database interface gives you 500 MB or more of personal database space to select, analyze, and cross-identify SDSS data.
Science Archive Server (SAS)
In addition, SAS contains directory structures with the data in the original binary (FITS) and text file formats. To understand the directory structure and file formats, please see the imaging data, spectroscopic data, and infrared spectroscopy pages. To understand the way in which the SDSS organizes its data, see Understanding SDSS Imaging Data, Understanding SDSS Spectroscopic Data, Understanding SDSS Infrared Spectroscopy Data and Understanding SDSS Integral-Field Spectroscopic Data. Full details on the structure of all the data are in the detailed data model.
- SAS Optical Spectra
- Webapp to search-view-download optical spectra
- SAS Infrared Spectra
- Webapp to search-view-download infrared spectra
- SAS Stellar Library Spectra
- Webapp to search-view-download MaStar stellar library spectra
- SAS Imaging Fields
- Webapp to search-view-download SDSS field images
- SAS Imaging Mosaic
- Webapp to create larger-scale mosaic images
- Marvin
- Web and Analysis Tool to visualize and analyse MaNGA integral-field spectroscopic data
- Imaging catalogs
- Directories of full image catalog files
BOSS_PHOTOOBJ data model - Corrected frames
- Directories of full corrected image frames
BOSS_PHOTOOBJ/frames data model - Datasweep catalogs
- Directories of reduced "sweep" imaging catalog data files
PHOTO_SWEEP data model - Optical Spectroscopy
- Directories of optical spectra and catalogs.
Documentation, Legacy SPECTRO_REDUX data model, and BOSS_SPECTRO_REDUX data model - Infrared Spectroscopy
- Directories of APOGEE spectra and catalogs
Documentation and APOGEE_REDUX data model - Stellar Library Spectra
- Directories of MaStar Stellar Library spectra
Documentation and MaStar data model - IFU Spectroscopy
- Directories of MaNGA spectra and catalogs
Documentation and MANGA_SPECTRO_REDUX data model
Note that both CAS and SAS will give you exactly the same catalog data. Essentially all of the data input into CAS is included in some form in the SAS. However, there are some small changes in naming convention (for example, "resolve_status" in SAS flat files is referred to as "resolveStatus" in CAS).