SDSS

Imagery from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey is now available in World Wind (1.3.4 and above).

Usage
To view SDSS imagery: you will now see several new icons on World Wind's toolbar (see figure 3).
 * load World Wind and select SDSS from the file menu (see figure 1),
 * or double click the desktop shortcut (see figure 2),
 * or click [worldwind://goto/world=SDSS&lat=2.87770&lon=2.04599&alt=16961 load SDSS],

Click on an icon and wait as the images load: The Sloan Digital Sky Server icon (see figure 4) loads SDSS imagery.

The WMAP Image Server icon (see figure 5) loads WMAP imagery.

The icons provide access to footprints of different astronomical surveys, together with images from these surveys.

Currently Footprints are available for the SDSS survey (Data Release 5) and the FIRST radio survey. Images are available for the SDSS (Data Release 4) and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP; Year One data release).

Transparency can also be used to view two, or more, of these layers at once by right clicking on the imagery name in Layer Manager.

Stellar Hotspots
Click the following links to view some interesting stellar views.
 * [worldwind://goto/world=sdss&lat=55.01889&lon=-11.30025&alt=16961&dir=30.4&tilt=1.3 Owl Nebula, M97]
 * [worldwind://goto/world=sdss&lat=2.8777&lon=2.046&alt=16961 NGC 4123]
 * [worldwind://goto/world=sdss&lat=6.0981&lon=4.8439&alt=16961 NGC 4260]
 * [worldwind://goto/world=sdss&lat=1.299&lon=3.217&alt=16961 NGC 4179]
 * [worldwind://goto/world=sdss&lat=0.84&lon=24.97&alt=16961 ARP 240]
 * [worldwind://goto/world=sdss&lat=12.304&lon=-27.874&alt=16961 Leo I]
 * [worldwind://goto/world=sdss&lat=12.723&lon=6.634&alt=378354 Virgo Cluster]
 * [worldwind://goto/world=sdss&lat=36.454&lon=70.421&alt=87605 M13]
 * [worldwind://goto/world=sdss&lat=53.4212&lon=-60.534&alt=31290 PN G164.8+31.1]

Hipparcos catalogue search
This is a useful search page which allows you to search the Hipparcos catalogue and provides a World Wind link for the location.
 * Hipparcos catalogue search at Geody Space

Placenames
This is a small add-on with Constellation Names, Messier Objects and a couple of Arp's peculiar Galaxies
 * Placenames for SDSS

Data source
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) - The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is the most ambitious astronomical survey ever undertaken. When completed, it will provide detailed optical images covering more than a quarter of the sky, and a 3-dimensional map of about a million galaxies and quasars. As the survey progresses, the data are released to the scientific community and the general public in annual increments.

Credits
SDSS Andrew Connolly, Simon Krughoff, Ryan Scranton (University of Pittsburgh) and Istvan Csabai (Eötvös Loránd University).

The installer for this plug-in was made using a script created by mazop.

Funding for the SDSS and SDSS-II has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, the Max Planck Society, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The SDSS Web Site is http://www.sdss.org/.

The SDSS is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions. The Participating Institutions are the American Museum of Natural History, Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, University of Basel, Cambridge University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Chicago, Drexel University, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, Johns Hopkins University, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, the Korean Scientist Group, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (LAMOST), Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, Ohio State University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Portsmouth, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington.

See also SDSS technical publications.