  Compact groups (CGs) of galaxies -- relatively poor groups of galaxies in
which the typical separations between members is of the order of a galaxy
diameter -- offer an exceptional laboratory for the study of dense galaxian
environments with short (<1Gyr) dynamical time-scales. In this paper, we
present an objectively defined catalog of CGs in 153 sq deg of the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey Early Data Release (SDSS EDR). To identify CGs, we applied a
modified version of Hickson's (1982) criteria aimed at finding the highest
density CGs and thus reducing the number of chance alignments. Our catalog
contains 175 CGs down to a limiting galaxy magnitude of r* = 21. The resulting
catalog has a median depth of approximately z = 0.13, substantially deeper than
previous CG catalogs. Since the SDSS will eventually image up to one quarter of
the celestial sphere, we expect our final catalog, based upon the completed
SDSS, will contain on the order of 5,000 - 10,000 CGs. This catalog will be
useful for conducting studies of the general characteristics of CGs, their
environments, and their component galaxies.
