SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper

This image shows at the bottom a cartoon of an Active Galactic Nucleus, with X-rays produced by the central hot corona, and then the accretion disc and broad line region clouds further out. The top shows three images highlighting the science that Black Hole Mapper is focusing on, with X-ray follow-up in the centre, and reverberation mapping and multi-epoch spectroscopy located above the broad line regions on either side. Figure taken from https://www.sdss.org/dr19/bhm/about/

All @blackholemapper.bsky.social science programs are available here, www.sdss.org/dr19/bhm/pro..., and they include time domain programs such AQMES (All-Quasar Multi-Epoch Spectroscopy and reverberation mapping, X-ray follow-up programs.

This image shows the location of Black Hole Mapper targets on the sky, with each purple point depicting an object. All fields are in the North taken with the Sloan Telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, US. Fields in the South by the du Pont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory will be part of the next data release, DR20. There is a pink blob around right ascension = 9 hours, which are the eFEDS fields (eROSITA Full Equatorial Depth Survey) released in DR18. Figure taken from https://www.sdss.org/dr19/bhm/

@blackholemapper.bsky.social had already released a few spectra in DR18, but they are going all out for DR19, with lots of galaxy and quasar spectra #DR19

Tutorials - SDSS Welcome to the SDSS tutorial section. This section contains a series of hands-on tutorials to learn how to work with different aspects of the SDSS data. If you are unsure what kind of SDSS data or whi...

Black Hole Mapper also has a range of tutorials available to get you started working on the data: www.sdss.org/dr19/tutoria... #DR19

The figure is the banner from the SDSS website www.sdss.org. In the middle it has an image of the Milky Way, showing the bulge, disc and dust lanes. On the left we see an stylised version of the Hertzsprung Russel diagram, while on the right the image transforms into the cosmic web. This image showcases the range of science covered by the three mapper programs in SDSS-V.

Yesterday we released our nineteenth data release into the wild: www.sdss.org/dr19, let’s now take a closer look on what is in this data release. #DR19

BHM In the Classroom - SDSS This notebook aims to introduce some topics around quasar spectra, redshift and spectral variability. It is suitable for introductory level physics or astronomy majors at the tertiary level but could ...

First we have a tutorial around some basic themes relating to @blackholemapper.bsky.social . This introduces quasar spectra and redshift before moving in to time domain astronomy and looking at spectroscopic variability.

You can find it here www.sdss.org/dr19/tutoria... 2/4

Value Added Catalogs - SDSS In addition to the primary SDSS photometry and spectroscopy, there are a few extra catalogs created by our collaborators that are distributed through the SAS. These Value-Added Catalogs (VACs) are lis...

SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper is releasing “The Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR19 quasar spectral property catalog” www.sdss.org/dr19/data_ac...

Value Added Catalogs - SDSS In addition to the primary SDSS photometry and spectroscopy, there are a few extra catalogs created by our collaborators that are distributed through the SAS. These Value-Added Catalogs (VACs) are lis...

SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper is releasing the “Spectral Identification of eROSITA Sources DR19: Optical and X-ray properties” www.sdss.org/dr19/data_ac...

BHM Tutorials - SDSS The BHM survey focuses on the study of quasars and other AGN observed with the BOSS spectrograph. To support this science, the survey supplies a number of spectra and summary files that include parame...

We are releasing several new Jupyter Notebook style tutorials to help you use the new SDSS-V DR19 data: www.sdss.org/dr19/bhm/tut... github.com/sdss/dr19_tu...

Data Release 19 - SDSS DR19 is the second data release for the fifth phase of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-V). Its content is described in detail on the DR19 data release paper. What's New in DR19 Data Access Scope DR...

We have a data release! Check out sdss.org/dr19 for all the data that just became publicly available with our 19th data release #DR19

BHM Data - SDSS Previous SDSS data most relevant to BHM Please also see earlier SDSS data releases, including DR16, DR17, and DR18 which e.g., include BHM relevant science and data, from other earlier SDSS programs a...

We are releasing a total of ~380,000 BOSS spectra in DR19 for ~120,000 distinct objects primarily targeted for spectroscopy by BHM, an order of magnitude expansion vs. DR18. www.sdss.org/dr19/bhm/dat... www.sdss.org/dr19/bhm/dat...

Sloan Digital Sky Survey-V: Pioneering Panoptic Spectroscopy The Sloan Digital Sky Survey-V (SDSS-V) is pioneering panoptic spectroscopy: it is the first all-sky, multi-epoch, optical-to-infrared spectroscopic survey. SDSS-V is mapping the sky with multi-object...

Today is a big day for us: it's DATA RELEASE DAY!!! And to celebrate our nineteenth data release, we have not one, but two papers for you to read all about our data: we have a DR19 paper (arxiv.org/abs/2507.07093) and an SDSS-V Overview paper (arxiv.org/abs/2507.06989) #DR19

about the BLR structure and how they change based on the luminosity state of the quasar. This has implications for the use of reverberation mapping in this source to measure a black hole mass, and more! (3/3)

This paper presents a velocity-resolved analysis of reverberation mapping data of the quasar SDSS-RM 160, which is a hypervariable quasar found to display odd/interesting behavior in its BLR. The team uses reverberation mapping techniques to uncover details (2/3)

This week's BHM science paper highlight is "The SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper Reverberation Mapping Project: A Kinematically Variable Broad-Line Region and Consequences for Masses of Luminous Quasars", by
@loganfries Fries et al. (2024). ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024arXi...
(1/3)

They use this sample to look for and report on trends in various properties of AGN that show this behavior, such as accretion rate, and examine the behavior of different emission lines.
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This work reports the results of a large-scale search for changing-look AGN (AGN that show dramatic variability and/or changes in "type") with first-year SDSS-V BHM spectroscopy. They found 116 changing-look AGN, the largest number of changing-look AGN ever reported!
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Exploring Changing-look Active Galactic Nuclei with the Sloan... "Changing-look" active galactic nuclei (CL-AGNs) challenge our basic ideas about the physics of accretion flows and circumnuclear gas around supermassive black holes. Using first-year Sloan...

This week's BHM paper highlight is "Exploring Changing-look Active Galactic Nuclei with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V: First Year Results" by Zeltyn et al. (2024). The paper can be found here: arxiv.org/abs/2401.01933
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Supermassive black hole's "wind" shapes surrounding galaxy Astronomers analyzed observations of a quasar to find changes in the winds surrounding it.

Accelerating quasar winds have been reported before, but with 130 observations from SDSS spread over 8 years, researchers were able to show the acceleration at high confidence. These results were also reported by several news outlets: For example, see www.newsweek.com/supermassive... (3/3)

This paper reports an investigation of variability in a broad absorption-line quasar that was observed by the BHM program. Researchers discovered that a prominent absorption line, which indicates a wind being launched off the quasar accretion disk, is accelerating.

The SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper Reverberation Mapping Project: CIV... We present the results of an investigation of a highly variable CIV broad absorption-line feature in the quasar SBS 1408+544 (z=2.337) that shows a significant shift in velocity over time. This...

This week's BHM paper highlight is "The SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper Reverberation Mapping Project: CIV BAL Acceleration in the Quasar SBS 1408+544" by Wheatley et al. (2024). The paper can be found here: arxiv.org/abs/2406.08622

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This paper analyzes the X-ray (eROSITA) and optical (SDSS and other) properties of the X-ray sources found and is meant as a demonstration of what is to come with the full eROSITA all-sky survey data that may come in future years.
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This paper presents a sample of hard X-ray sources detected by the eROSITA satellite, focusing specifically on extragalactic sources, which primarily include AGN. These sources were targeted in the optical by SDSS-V as a part of the BHM program!

This week's BHM paper highlight is "The eROSITA Final Equatorial Depth Survey (eFEDS): The Hard X-ray Selected Sample" by K. Nandra et al (2024). The paper can be found here: ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024arXi...

from the BHM program (along with data), they identified 26 accreting compact white dwarf binaries, some of which are new discoveries, and include dwarf novae and different types of cataclysmic variables.

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This work reports on observations taken as a part of SDSS-IV and SDSS-V (BHM) eROSITA followup program! While much of the BHM focus is on quasars, it turns out that some of the X-ray sources from eROSITA are compact white dwarf binaries. Using spectra

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Compact white-dwarf binaries in the combined SRG/eROSITA/SDSS eFEDS survey Aims. Compact white-dwarf binaries are selected from spectra obtained in the early SDSS-V plate program. A dedicated set of SDSS plate observations were carried out in the eFEDS field, providing...

After a bit of a hiatus, we are returning with more weekly-ish BHM Science Paper Highlights! This week's paper highlight is "Compact White Dwarf Binaries in the combined SRG/eROSITA/SDSS eFEDs Survey", by A. Schwope et al. (2024): arxiv.org/abs/2401.17304

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and look for "clustering", which tells us about their placement within dark matter halos. Constraints can then be placed on the evolution and fueling of AGN and the galaxies in which they reside!

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This paper reports on active galactic nuclei (AGN) that have been identified using a combination of X-ray data from the eROSITA satellite and SDSS-V data (as well as other sources). The authors used these data to learn about the environments in which AGN are found

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The cosmic web of X-ray active galactic nuclei seen through the... Which galaxies in the general population turn into active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is a keystone of galaxy formation and evolution. Thanks to SRG/eROSITA's contiguous 140 square degree pilot survey...

This week's BHM paper highlight is "The Cosmic Web of X-ray Active Galactic Nuclei seen through the eROSITA Final Equatorial Depth Survey (eFEDS)", by Johan Comparat et al. (2023). The paper can be found here: arxiv.org/abs/2301.01388

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allows us to learn more about the accretion of material onto quasars and about the structure of the region called the "broad line region" that is used in measurements of supermassive black hole masses, which are important for our understanding of the evolution of galaxies!

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