"The Sixth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Survey," by
Jennifer K. Adelman-McCarthy and 163 others, Astrophysical Journal
Supplement Series, 175(2): 297-313, April 2008.
Abstract: "This paper describes the Sixth Data Release of
the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. With this data release, the imaging of the
northern Galactic cap is now complete. The survey contains images and
parameters of roughly 287 million objects over 9583 deg(2), including scans
over a large range of Galactic latitudes and longitudes. The survey also
includes 1.27 million spectra of stars, galaxies, quasars, and blank sky
(for sky subtraction) selected over 7425 deg2. This release includes much
more stellar spectroscopy than was available in previous data releases and
also includes detailed estimates of stellar temperatures, gravities, and
metallicities. The results of improved photometric calibration are now
available, with uncertainties of roughly 1% in g, r, i, and z, and 2% in u,
substantially better than the uncertainties in previous data releases. The
spectra in this data release have improved wavelength and flux calibration,
especially in the extreme blue and extreme red, leading to the
qualitatively better determination of stellar types and radial velocities.
The spectrophotometric fluxes are now tied to point-spread function
magnitudes of stars rather than fiber magnitudes. This gives more robust
results in the presence of seeing variations, but also implies a change in
the spectrophotometric scale, which is now brighter by roughly 0.35 mag.
Systematic errors in the velocity dispersions of galaxies have been fixed,
and the results of two independent codes for determining spectral
classifications and red-shifts are made available. Additional spectral
outputs are made available, including calibrated spectra from individual 15
minute exposures and the sky spectrum subtracted from each exposure. We
also quantify a recently recognized underestimation of the brightnesses of
galaxies of large angular extent due to poor sky subtraction; the bias can
exceed 0.2 mag for galaxies brighter than r = 14 mag."
This 2008 report from Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series was
cited 43 times in current journal articles
indexed by Clarivate during November-December 2009. Only two other
physics papers, aside from reviews, attracted higher citation totals during
that two-month period. June of 2009 saw the publication of the next
installment from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the Seventh Data
Release, a report that is already garnering citations at a rapid clip. The
Physics Top Ten has previously featured two SDSS reports at once, and this
scenario seems likely to be repeated in the near future. Prior to the most
recent bimonthly count, citations to the Sixth Data Release have accrued as
follows:
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