On September 30th, 2022, LAMOST published its Eighth Data Release (DR8 v2.0) to astronomers worldwide, which includes the spectra obtained from the pilot survey through the eight-year regular survey from October 2011 to June 2020.

For the first time, the National Astronomical Data Center has jointly published the LAMOST DR8 dataset in conjunction with the ESASky data platform of the European Space Agency (https://sky.esa.int/). In the future, other astronomical data systems, including the SciServer of Johns Hopkins University, will also put online more LAMOST data, making it more convenient for international scientists to browse and query.

From October 2018 to June 2023, LAMOST performs the medium- and low-resolution spectral survey alternately. The DR8 dataset (v2.0) includes 16.6 million spectra and 7.91 million sets of stellar spectral parameters. The total number of spectra and stellar parameters released by LAMOST is still the largest in the world.

The DR8 v2.0 data set includes the following updates:

1. Based on the Gaia and PANSTARR star catalogs, the LAMOST catalog is constructed with the source as the basic unit;

2. The spectra of the variable stars identified by Gaia are marked in the LAMOST catalog, and the variability type is also provided;

3. The data products are enriched, where the related parameter catalogs of galaxies and quasars are added.

Scientific users can log on the website at http://www.lamost.org/dr8/ to query and download the DR8 (v2.0) data.

Figure: Left: Footprint of the LAMOST pilot survey and the eight-year regular low-resolution survey. Right: Footprint of the LAMOST medium-resolution commissioning and the two-year regular medium-resolution survey.