Variability Studies with SDSS

Z. Ivezic; R. H. Lupton; S. Anderson; L. Eyer; M. Juric; G. R. Knapp; G. Miknaitis; J. E. Gunn; C. M. Rockosi; D. Schlegel; M. A. Strauss; C. Stubbs; D. E. Vanden Berk

arXiv · astro-ph/0301400

Variability Studies with SDSS

Z. Ivezic·R. H. Lupton·S. Anderson·L. Eyer·M. Juric·G. R. Knapp·G. Miknaitis·J. E. Gunn·C. M. Rockosi·D. Schlegel·M. A. Strauss·C. Stubbs·D. E. Vanden Berk

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Abstract

The potential of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey for wide-field variability studies is illustrated using multi-epoch observations for 3,000,000 point sources observed in 700 deg2 of sky, with time spans ranging from 3 hours to 3 years. These repeated observations of the same sources demonstrate that SDSS delivers ~0.02 mag photometry with well behaved and understood errors. We show that quasars dominate optically faint (r > 18) point sources that are variable on time scales longer than a few months, while for shorter time scales, and at bright magnitudes, most variable sources are stars.

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Z. Ivezic, R. H. Lupton, S. Anderson, L. Eyer, M. Juric, G. R. Knapp, G. Miknaitis, J. E. Gunn, C. M. Rockosi, D. Schlegel, M. A. Strauss, C. Stubbs, D. E. Vanden Berk. 2003-01-20. Variability Studies with SDSS. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0301400

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