Program Details

• Keywords

  Dust
  Emission-Line Galaxies
  Galaxy Formation and Evolution
  Spectral Energy Distributions
  Structure and Morphology

• Investigators

  Mark Dickinson 
  Harry C. Ferguson
  Andrea Grazian 
  Norman Grogin 
  Jeyhan Kartaltepe
  Lisa Kewley 
  Dale D. Kocevski 
  Anton M. Koekemoer 
  Jennifer Lotz 
  Casey Papovich 
  Laura Pentericci 
  Pablo G. Perez-Gonzalez
  Norbert Pirzkal 
  Swara Ravindranath 
  Rachel S. Somerville
  Jonathan R. Trump
  Stephen Matthew Wilkins 

• Abstract

  We propose the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, which covers 100 sq. arcmin with JWST imaging and spectroscopy, and is designed to achieve the DD-ERS goals. CEERS will inform the selection of a wide variety of spectroscopic targets for Cycle 2 with a practical choice of imaging area, depth, and wavelength coverage, targeting a field that is supported by a rich set of HST/CANDELS multi-wavelength data.

  CEERS will demonstrate, test, and validate efficient extragalactic surveys with coordinated, overlapping parallel observations with the JWST instrument suite, including NIRCam and MIRI imaging, NIRSpec R~100 and R~1000 spectroscopy, and NIRCam slitless grism (R~1500) spectroscopy.  These tests enable Cycle 2 observations, including validating JWST parallel observing modes, dither and exposure-time strategies, and spectroscopic observing modes including slit-loss corrections.

  CEERS enables immediate community science into both extragalactic JWST science drivers “First Light and Reionization” and “The Assembly of
  Galaxies,” including:

  1. The discovery of 20-80 galaxies at z~9-13, constraining their abundance and physical nature;  
  2. Deep spectra  of >400 galaxies at z>3, including 40 known candidates at 6<z<9, enabling redshifts and constraints on physical conditions of star-formation and black hole growth via line diagnostics;
  3. Quantifying the first bulge and disk structures at z>3; and
  4. Characterizing galaxy mid-IR emission to study dust-obscured star-formation and supermassive black hole growth at z~1-3. 

  The CEERS collaboration is diverse on many axes with demonstrated expertise in rapid delivery of high-level science products.

• Instrument and Mode

  MIRI: Imaging
  NIRCam: Wide Field Slitless Spectroscopy; Imaging
  NIRSpec: Multi-object Spectroscopy

• What Does the Program Enable for the User Community?

  • Science: 1-5um imaging over 100 arcmin^2, 5-20 um imaging over 2-4 MIRI fields, 1-5um NIRSpec R~100 and R~1000 slit spectroscopy over ~300 galaxies, and slitless NIRCam spectroscopy over ~40 arcmin^2.
  • Data: Rapid reduction and release prior to Cycle 2 call; first catalogs released six months after data acquisition.
  • Technical: Validate coordinated parallel strategies; empirically measure NIRSpec MSA slit losses.

• How Will You Engage the User Community?

  • Online talks, local in-person workshops, Google Hangouts and blog, website
  • JWebbinar 13 - CEERS NIRCam and MIRI Imaging. The associated materials and videos can be found on the JWebbinars page.

• Deliverables

  https://ceers.github.io/releases.html

• Team Website URL

    https://ceers.github.io/