First public release of BOSS spectroscopic data of the universe

The latest spectroscopic data release from the Third Sloan Digitial Sky Survey (SDSS-III) has been made available to the public to demonstrate progress in the project to map the galaxies in the universe. The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) provides spectra for 535,995 newly observed galaxies, 102,100 quasars, and 116,474 stars, plus new information about objects in previous Sloan surveys. It is the latest instalment in an ambitious program which intends to measure 1.5 million galaxies, 150,000 quasars and a multitude of stars and other objects in space.

The data set, which is freely available at http://sdss3.org, contains spectra for galaxies up to 7 billion light years away and quasars up to 11.5 billion light years away. Two more data releases from BOSS in the future will complete the project to give a larger survey than SDSS alone has provided so far. A video simulating a flight through the universe has also been released, taking the viewer on a 3D tour among the galaxies and stars that have been surveyed to date.