The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) will provide the data to support detail
ed investigations of the distribution of luminous and nonluminous matter in
the universe: a photometrically and astrometrically calibrated digital ima
ging survey of pi sr above about Galactic latitude 30 degrees in five broad
optical bands to a depth of g' similar to 23 mag, and a spectroscopic surv
ey of the approximately 10(6) brightest galaxies and 10(5) brightest quasar
s found in the photometric object catalog produced by the imaging survey. T
his paper summarizes the observational parameters and data products of the
SDSS and serves as an introduction to extensive technical on-line documenta
tion.