Title

The Fifteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: First Release of MaNGA-derived Quantities, Data Visualization Tools, and Stellar Library

Authors

D. S. Aguado, Instituto Astrofisico de Canarias
Romina Ahumada, Universidad de Concepcion
Andrés Almeida, Universidad de La Serena
Scott F. Anderson, University of Washington, Seattle
Brett H. Andrews, University of Pittsburgh
Borja Anguiano, University of Virginia
Erik Aquino Ortiz, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Alfonso Aragón-Salamanca, University of Nottingham
Maria Argudo-Fernández, Universidad de Antofagasta
Marie Aubert, Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille
Vladimir Avila-Reese, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Carles Badenes, University of Pittsburgh
Sandro Barboza Rembold, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria
Kat Barger, Texas Christian University
Jorge Barrera-Ballesteros, Johns Hopkins University
Dominic Bates, University of St Andrews
Julian Bautista, University of Portsmouth
Rachael L. Beaton, Carnegie Observatories
Timothy C. Beers, University of Notre Dame
Francesco Belfiore, University of California, Santa Cruz
Mariangela Bernardi, University of Pennsylvania
Matthew Bershady, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Florian Beutler, University of Portsmouth
Jonathan Bird, Vanderbilt University
Dmitry Bizyaev, Apache Point Observatory
Guillermo A. Blanc, Carnegie Observatories
Michael R. Blanton, The Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics
Michael Blomqvist, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
Adam S. Bolton, National Optical Astronomy Observatory
Médéric Boquien, Universidad de Antofagasta
Jura Borissova, Universidad de Valparaiso
Hee-Jong Seo, Ohio University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-1-2019

Keywords

atlases, catalogs, surveys

Abstract

© 2019. The American Astronomical Society. Twenty years have passed since first light for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Here, we release data taken by the fourth phase of SDSS (SDSS-IV) across its first three years of operation (2014 July-2017 July). This is the third data release for SDSS-IV, and the 15th from SDSS (Data Release Fifteen; DR15). New data come from MaNGA - we release 4824 data cubes, as well as the first stellar spectra in the MaNGA Stellar Library (MaStar), the first set of survey-supported analysis products (e.g., stellar and gas kinematics, emission-line and other maps) from the MaNGA Data Analysis Pipeline, and a new data visualization and access tool we call "Marvin." The next data release, DR16, will include new data from both APOGEE-2 and eBOSS; those surveys release no new data here, but we document updates and corrections to their data processing pipelines. The release is cumulative; it also includes the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since first light. In this paper, we describe the location and format of the data and tools and cite technical references describing how it was obtained and processed. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has also been updated, providing links to data downloads, tutorials, and examples of data use. Although SDSS-IV will continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V (2020-2025), we end this paper by describing plans to ensure the sustainability of the SDSS data archive for many years beyond the collection of data.

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