The content of a galaxy's halo defines how the galaxy has formed and evolved. Most halos consist of a mixture of gas, stars, and dark matter, with much of the halo gas being both enriched and ionized. The halo material may have a mixture of origins which include the remnants of mergers and satellite accretion, infalling intergalactic gas, and galaxy outflow material. This talk will discuss the origins of the baryons in galactic halos by examining accreting satellites around our Galaxy and high-latitude bursts of star formation found in other galaxy halos.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is revolutionizing the study of quasars and other active galactic nuclei. The survey is obtaining five-band CCD imaging and multifiber spectroscopy over close to one-fourth of the entire sky. Quasars are efficiently identified as objects which have colors different from those of stars and galaxies. The spectra have wavelength coverage, signal-to-noise, and resolution superior to almost all past quasar surveys. I will summarize the wealth of science being done using this huge, high quality dataset, such as: studies of dust reddening in quasars, quasar variability, and discovery of rare populations including obscured (Type II) quasars and unusual broad absorption line quasars