The focal plane system will support two of SDSS-V’s three core science programs: the Black Hole Mapper and the Milky Way Mapper. Together, these projects will collect data from millions of objects spread across the sky, from stars in our own galactic backyard to incredibly distant supermassive black holes.

Penn State astronomers have participated in the SDSS since the first phase of the survey in the late 1990s and are heavily involved in the Black Hole Mapper project. The Black Hole Mapper will study quasars, extremely luminous objects believed to be powered by black holes at the center of galaxies.

“The Black Hole Mapper will obtain spectra of over 300,000 quasars; this information will be used to understand the inner workings, environments and evolution of quasars, which harbor huge black holes with masses of tens of millions to billion times larger than the sun,” said Michael Eracleous, Penn State professor of astronomy and astrophysics, Black Hole Mapper executive committee member and co-chair of the Black Hole Mapper Quasar Physics Task Force. .

By observing these objects multiple times and combining the data with previous SDSS observations, SDSS-V will be able to see how these systems evolve on time scales ranging from days to decades. The study will also provide observations of hundreds of thousands of cosmic objects initially identified at X-ray wavelengths by the SRG/eROSITA satellite to determine their nature and distance from Earth. This vast sample of sources will include not only new quasars, but also distant galaxy clusters – the largest gravitational structures in the universe – as well as nearby X-ray emitting stars.

“I am excited to measure direct black hole masses for active galaxies detected by X-rays and to study powerful quasar winds with the new Black Hole Mapper data,” said Niel Brandt, Verne M. Willaman Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State. and member of the SDSS collaboration.

The Milky Way Mapper will survey our home galaxy in unprecedented detail. The ecosystem of stars, gas, dust and dark matter in large galaxies like ours has been shaped over billions of years by many physical processes that dominate at different scales in space and time. It will take advantage of our unique perspective within the Milky Way galaxy to create a unique high-resolution map of the galaxy’s stars and their motion.

“The SDSS team is an inspiration,” Kollmeier said of the challenges of the past two years. “As the world closed down, they showed up. Everyone, from undergraduates to project leadership to our industry partners, did their best and supported each other to get this far. I am so proud of the persistence of this team and look forward to the mysteries we will both solve and uncover as the investigation unfolds.

About the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

The SDSS is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for participating institutions of the SDSS Collaboration. More information and a list of participating institutions can be found on the SDSS website. Funding for the SDSS was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, participating institutions, the National Science Foundation, and the US Department of Energy Office of Science. Additional funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V was provided by the Heising-Simons Foundation.