These pages give you access to documentation for all the data stored in the SkyServer database. These documents tell you what each data type means. You will need to know the data types to write SQL queries that search through the data.

• The FAQ gives you answers to the most frequently asked questions.
• The Getting Started pages will tell you what kinds of data you can find with SkyServer, and how you can best use each of SkyServer's tools to explore the sky.
• The Object Browser will let you navigate interactively among the contents and descriptions of the different tables.
• The Glossary provides a one paragraph explanation of the most important terms appearing in the documentation. To be implemented later.
• The About SkyServer section provides a short description of the whole system, including the website and the database.
• The Deep background section is based on a long technical paper that describes even the smallest technical details related to the data and processing in the Early Data Release (EDR). Beware: this is tough reading!
• The How To section presents a couple tutorials that give simple scenarios and recipes for accessing the data. More will be implemented later....
• The Download section contains links to the various documents presented here, plus a few of our software tools that you can run on your computer.

For more information on how SDSS collects data, see the About SDSS: Data section of SkyServer. Data in the SkyServer database are stored in tables.

Click here to see the full database diagram of the SkyServer.