Rich Kron

Apache Point Observatory in the Sacramento Mountains of southern New Mexico is the home of the telescope for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The Sky Survey will systematically map one quarter of the entire sky, identifying more than 100 million stars, galaxies and quasars, to create the largest map of the heavens ever made. Sky Survey scientists hope to use the data to gain new insight into the large-scale structure of the universe-and also into the smallest-scale structure of matter. At right, astrophysicist Rich Kron attaches optical fibers to a "plug plate," a device that will help astronomers create a three-dimensional picture of the universe.