We encourage the active use of these data from the SDSS EDR. We have worked to make the data products as accurate as possible, but realize that some calibration or cataloging errors may have crept into our work. Feedback to the help desk set up at the STScI will allow us to evaluate the usefulness and correctness of these catalogs. As appropriate, we will update the calibration and contents of this early data release and announce these changes on the users' group mailing list and the SDSS web site.
The next data release of SDSS data is scheduled for January of 2003. It is scheduled to include at least 1,500 square degrees of imaging data and corresponding spectra.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is a joint project of The University of Chicago, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, The Johns Hopkins University, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington. Apache Point Observatory, site of the SDSS telescopes, is operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC).
Funding for the project has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the SDSS member institutions, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, and the Max Planck Society. The SDSS Web site is http://www.sdss.org/.