The milky way tomography with sdss

Using the photometric parallax method, we estimate the distances to {approx}48 million stars detected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and map their three-dimensional number density distribution in the Galaxy. The currently available data sample the distance range from 100 pc to 15 kpc and cover 6,500 deg{sup 2} of sky, mostly at high galactic latitudes (|b| > 25). These stellar number density maps allow an investigation of the Galactic structure without any a priori assumptions about its components. The data show strong evidence for a Galaxy consisting of an oblate halo, disk components, and a number of localized overdensities. The number density distribution of stars in the Solar neighborhood (D < 1.5kpc) favors a model having a ''thin'' and a ''thick'' exponential disk, with scale heights and lengths of H{sub 1} {approx} 280 pc and L{sub 1} {approx} 2400pc, and H{sub 2} {approx} 1200pc and L{sub 2} {approx} 3500pc, respectively, and local thick-to-thin disk normalization {rho}{sub thick} (R{sub {circle_dot}})/{rho}{sub thin}(R{sub {circle_dot}}) = 4%. Fits applied to the entire dataset are significantly more uncertain due to the presence of clumps and overdensities. The halo power law index is very poorly constrained, but we find an oblate halo with c/a {approx} 0.5 to be strongly preferred. While roughly consistent with this simple model, the measured density distribution shows a number of statistically significant deviations from the model predictions. In addition to known features, such as the Monoceros stream, a remarkable density enhancement covering over a thousand square degrees of sky is detected towards the constellation of Virgo, at distances of {approx} 5-15 kpc. Compared to counts in a region symmetric with respect to the l = 0 line and with the same Galactic latitude, it is responsible for a factor of 2 number density excess, and may be a nearby tidal stream or a low-surface brightness dwarf galaxy merging with the Milky Way. The u - g color distribution of these stars implies metallicities lower than those of the thick disk, and consistent with the halo metallicity distribution.