Kollmeier, Juna A.; Rix, Hans-Walter; Aerts, Conny; Aird, James; Alfaro, Pablo Vera; Almeida, Andr茅s; Anderson, Scott F.; Arseneau, Stefan M.; Assef, Roberto J.; Aviram, Shir; Aydar, Catarina; Badenes, Carles; Bandyopadhyay, Avrajit; Barger, Kat; Barkhouser, Robert H.; Bauer, Franz E.; Behmard, Aida; Bender, Chad; Besser, Felipe; Bhattarai, Binod; Bilgi, Pavaman; Bird, Jonathan; Bizyaev, Dmitry; Blanc, Guillermo A.; Blanton, Michael R.; Bochanski, John; Bovy, Jo; Brandon, Christopher; Brandt, William Nielsen; Brownstein, Joel R.; Buchner, Johannes; Burchett, Joseph N.; Carlberg, Joleen; Casey, Andrew R.; Castaneda-Carlos, Lesly; Chakraborty, Priyanka; Chanam茅, Julio; Chandra, Vedant; Cherinka, Brian; Chilingarian, Igor; Comparat, Johan; Cosens, Maren; Covey, Kevin; Crane, Jeffrey D.; Crumpler, Nicole R.; Cruz-Gonzalez, Irene; Cunha, Katia; Cunningham, Tim; Dai, Xinyu; Darling, Jeremy; Davidson, James W., Jr.; Davis, Megan C.; De Lee, Nathan; Deacon, Niall; M茅ndez Delgado, Jos茅 Eduardo; Demasi, Sebastian; Demianenko, Mariia; Derwent, Mark; D鈥橭nghia, Elena; Di Mille, Francesco; Dias, Bruno; Donor, John; Dow, Peter N.; Drory, Niv; Dwelly, Tom; Egorov, Oleg; Egorova, Evgeniya; El-Badry, Kareem; Engelman, Mike; Eracleous, Mike; Fan, Xiaohui; Farr, Emily; Fries, Logan; Frinchaboy, Peter; Froning, Cynthia S.; G盲nsicke, Boris T.; Garc铆a, Pablo; Gelfand, Joseph; Gentile Fusillo, Nicola Pietro; Glover, Simon; Grabowski, Katie; Grebel, Eva K.; Green, Paul J.; Grier, Catherine; Gupta, Pramod; Gray, Aidan C.; H盲berle, Maximilian; Hall, Patrick B.; Hammond, Randolph P.; Hawkins, Keith; Harding, Albert C.; Heged疟s, Viola; Herbst, Tom; Hermes, J. J.; Hidalgo, Paola Rodr铆guez; Hilder, Thomas; Hogg, David W.; Holtzman, Jon A.; Horta, Danny; Huang, Yang; Hwang, Hsiang-Chih; Ibarra-Medel, Hector Javier; Imig, Julie; Inight, Keith; Jana, Arghajit; Ji, Alexander P.; Jim茅nez-Arranz, 脫scar; Jofre, Paula; Johns, Matt; Johnson, Jennifer; Johnson, James W.; Johnston, Evelyn J.; Jones, Amy M.; Katkov, Ivan; Knapp, Gillian R.; Koekemoer, Anton M.; Kounkel, Marina; Kreckel, Kathryn; Krishnarao, Dhanesh; Krumpe, Mirko; Kumari, Nimisha; Kupfer, Thomas; Lacerna, Ivan; Laporte, Chervin; Lepine, Sebastien; Li, Jing; Liu, Xin; Loebman, Sarah; Long, Knox; Roman-Lopes, Alexandre; Lu, Yuxi; Majewski, Steven Raymond; Maoz, Dan; McKinnon, Kevin A.; Medan, Ilija; Merloni, Andrea; Minniti, Dante; Morrison, Sean; Myers, Natalie; M茅sz谩ros, Szabolcs; Nandra, Kirpal; Nayak, Prasanta K.; Ness, Melissa K.; Nidever, David L.; O鈥橞rien, Thomas; Oeur, Micah; Oravetz, Audrey; Oravetz, Daniel; Otto, Jonah; Pallathadka, Gautham Adamane; Palunas, Povilas; Pan, Kaike; Pappalardo, Daniel; Pandey, Rakesh; Pe帽aloza, Castalia Alenka Negrete; Pinsonneault, Marc H.; Pogge, Richard W.; Taghizadeh Popp, Manuchehr; Price-Whelan, Adrian M.; Pulatova, Nadiia; Qiu, Dan; Ramirez, Solange; Rankine, Amy; Ricci, Claudio; Runnoe, Jessie C.; Sanchez, Sebastian; Salvato, Mara; Sarbadhicary, Sumit K.; Sattler, Natascha; Saydjari, Andrew K.; Sayres, Conor; Schinnerer, Eva; Schlaufman, Kevin C.; Schneider, Donald P.; Schreiber, Matthias R.; Schwope, Axel; Serna, Javier; Shen, Yue; Sif贸n, Crist贸bal; Singh, Amrita; Sinha, Amaya; Smee, Stephen; Song, Ying-Yi; Souto, Diogo; Stassun, Keivan G.; Steinmetz, Matthias; Stone-Martinez, Alexander; Stringfellow, Guy; Stutz, Amelia; S谩nchez-Gallego, Jos茅; Tan, Jonathan C.; Tayar, Jamie; Thai, Riley; Thakar, Ani; Ting, Yuan-Sen; Tkachenko, Andrew; Tovmassian, Gagik; Trakhtenbrot, Benny; Fern谩ndez-Trincado, Jos茅 G.; Troup, Nicholas; Trump, Jonathan; Tuttle, Sarah; van der Marel, Roeland P.; Villanova, Sandro; Villase帽or, Jaime; Wachter, Stefanie; Way, Zachary; Weijmans, Anne-Marie; Weinberg, David; Wheeler, Adam; Wiggins, Alessa I.; Wilson, John; Wofford, Aida; Wong, Tony; Wu, Qiaoya; Wylezalek, Dominika; Wyse, Rosemary F. G.; Xue, Xiang-Xiang; Yang, Qian; Ybarra, Jason; Zakamska, Nadia; Zari, Eleonora; Zasowski, Gail; Zeltyn, Grisha; Zucker, Catherine; Rom谩n-Z煤帽iga, Carlos G.; de J. Zerme帽o, Rodolfo (2026).听.听Astronomical Journal, 171(1), 52.听
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey V (SDSS-V) is an ambitious project designed to map the entire sky by analyzing light from stars, galaxies, and other cosmic objects in unprecedented detail. It uses a technique called聽spectroscopy, which breaks light into its component colors (like a rainbow) to reveal information about an object鈥檚 composition, motion, and physical properties. What makes SDSS-V unique is its 鈥減anoptic spectroscopy,鈥� meaning it repeatedly observes the whole sky across a wide range of wavelengths鈥攆rom visible (optical) light to infrared鈥攁llowing scientists to track how objects change over time.
To do this efficiently, SDSS-V uses聽multiobject spectroscopy (MOS), where hundreds of optical fibers (thin light-guiding cables) are precisely positioned by robots to collect light from many objects at once. These fibers feed the light into instruments called聽spectrographs, which measure the detailed spectrum. The survey operates from telescopes in both the northern and southern hemispheres, ensuring full-sky coverage. It also introduces a newer method called聽integral field spectroscopy (IFS), which captures spectral information across large patches of sky simultaneously, rather than just from individual points. This is achieved using an array of small lenses and fibers that together create a detailed, spatially resolved map of light over a wide area.
SDSS-V is organized into three main science programs. The聽Milky Way Mapper聽studies the chemical composition and motion of stars to reconstruct the formation history of our galaxy (often called its 鈥渃hemodynamical鈥� evolution). The聽Black Hole Mapper聽focuses on understanding how supermassive black holes grow and influence their surroundings. The聽Local Volume Mapper聽examines nearby galaxies to learn how energy and elements are distributed and recycled within them. By combining advanced instruments with a long-term observing strategy, SDSS-V is set to greatly expand our understanding of the universe, while also complementing data from major space missions. It builds on the legacy of earlier SDSS projects, continuing their tradition of large-scale collaboration and high-impact astronomical data.
Figure 1.聽A schematic representation of SDSS-V: an all-sky, multiepoch spectroscopic facility and its science programs. Dual-hemisphere survey operations are undertaken at APO and LCO. Multiobject fiber spectroscopy is being carried out with two 2.5 m telescopes, each feeding a near-IR APOGEE spectrograph (300 fibers,聽R聽鈭悸�22,000) and an optical BOSS spectrograph (500 fibers,聽R聽鈭悸�2000). This enables a sky survey rate of 鈮� 25 deg2听丑谤鈭�1. Ultra鈥搘ide-field integral field spectroscopy is being carried out by the LVM-I at LCO using a smaller 0.16 m telescope, with a 鈭�2000-fiber IFU feeding three optical聽R聽鈭悸�4000 spectrographs. This schematic also outlines the three primary science programs: the MWM (red), drawing on both APOGEE (red) and BOSS (yellow) spectra; the BHM (orange), taking BOSS spectra of fainter targets; and the LVM (green), performing IFU mapping of the ionized ISM in the MW and nearby galaxies (image credit: M. Seibert).