The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2022)
A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away: A Candidate z ∼ 12 Galaxy in Early JWST CEERS Imaging
- Steven L. Finkelstein,
- Micaela B. Bagley,
- Pablo Arrabal Haro,
- Mark Dickinson,
- Henry C. Ferguson,
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe,
- Casey Papovich,
- Denis Burgarella,
- Dale D. Kocevski,
- Marc Huertas-Company,
- Kartheik G. Iyer,
- Anton M. Koekemoer,
- Rebecca L. Larson,
- Pablo G. Pérez-González,
- Caitlin Rose,
- Sandro Tacchella,
- Stephen M. Wilkins,
- Katherine Chworowsky,
- Aubrey Medrano,
- Alexa M. Morales,
- Rachel S. Somerville,
- L. Y. Aaron Yung,
- Adriano Fontana,
- Mauro Giavalisco,
- Andrea Grazian,
- Norman A. Grogin,
- Lisa J. Kewley,
- Allison Kirkpatrick,
- Peter Kurczynski,
- Jennifer M. Lotz,
- Laura Pentericci,
- Nor Pirzkal,
- Swara Ravindranath,
- Russell E. Ryan Jr.,
- Jonathan R. Trump,
- Guang Yang,
- and The CEERS Team:,
- Omar Almaini,
- Ricardo O. Amorín,
- Marianna Annunziatella,
- Bren E. Backhaus,
- Guillermo Barro,
- Peter Behroozi,
- Eric F. Bell,
- Rachana Bhatawdekar,
- Laura Bisigello,
- Volker Bromm,
- Véronique Buat,
- Fernando Buitrago,
- Antonello Calabrò,
- Caitlin M. Casey,
- Marco Castellano,
- Óscar A. Chávez Ortiz,
- Laure Ciesla,
- Nikko J. Cleri,
- Seth H. Cohen,
- Justin W. Cole,
- Kevin C. Cooke,
- M. C. Cooper,
- Asantha R. Cooray,
- Luca Costantin,
- Isabella G. Cox,
- Darren Croton,
- Emanuele Daddi,
- Romeel Davé,
- Alexander de la Vega,
- Avishai Dekel,
- David Elbaz,
- Vicente Estrada-Carpenter,
- Sandra M. Faber,
- Vital Fernández,
- Keely D. Finkelstein,
- Jonathan Freundlich,
- Seiji Fujimoto,
- Ángela García-Argumánez,
- Jonathan P. Gardner,
- Eric Gawiser,
- Carlos Gómez-Guijarro,
- Yuchen Guo,
- Kurt Hamblin,
- Timothy S. Hamilton,
- Nimish P. Hathi,
- Benne W. Holwerda,
- Michaela Hirschmann,
- Taylor A. Hutchison,
- Anne E. Jaskot,
- Saurabh W. Jha,
- Shardha Jogee,
- Stéphanie Juneau,
- Intae Jung,
- Susan A. Kassin,
- Aurélien Le Bail,
- Gene C. K. Leung,
- Ray A. Lucas,
- Benjamin Magnelli,
- Kameswara Bharadwaj Mantha,
- Jasleen Matharu,
- Elizabeth J. McGrath,
- Daniel H. McIntosh,
- Emiliano Merlin,
- Bahram Mobasher,
- Jeffrey A. Newman,
- David C. Nicholls,
- Viraj Pandya,
- Marc Rafelski,
- Kaila Ronayne,
- Paola Santini,
- Lise-Marie Seillé,
- Ekta A. Shah,
- Lu Shen,
- Raymond C. Simons,
- Gregory F. Snyder,
- Elizabeth R. Stanway,
- Amber N. Straughn,
- Harry I. Teplitz,
- Brittany N. Vanderhoof,
- Jesús Vega-Ferrero,
- Weichen Wang,
- Benjamin J. Weiner,
- Christopher N. A. Willmer,
- Stijn Wuyts,
- Jorge A. Zavala
Affiliations
- Steven L. Finkelstein
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Micaela B. Bagley
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Pablo Arrabal Haro
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Mark Dickinson
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Henry C. Ferguson
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Casey Papovich
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA
- Denis Burgarella
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM Marseille, France
- Dale D. Kocevski
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colby College , Waterville, ME 04901, USA
- Marc Huertas-Company
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias , La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Universidad de la Laguna , La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Université Paris-Cité , LERMA—Observatoire de Paris, PSL, Paris, France
- Kartheik G. Iyer
- ORCiD
- Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada
- Anton M. Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Rebecca L. Larson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]; NSF Graduate Fellow
- Pablo G. Pérez-González
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB/CSIC-INTA) , Ctra. de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850, Madrid, Spain
- Caitlin Rose
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Sandro Tacchella
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
- Stephen M. Wilkins
- ORCiD
- Astronomy Centre, University of Sussex , Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK; Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy, University of Malta , Msida MSD 2080, Malta
- Katherine Chworowsky
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Aubrey Medrano
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Alexa M. Morales
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Rachel S. Somerville
- ORCiD
- Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
- L. Y. Aaron Yung
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Adriano Fontana
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, I-00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Mauro Giavalisco
- ORCiD
- University of Massachusetts Amherst , 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA
- Andrea Grazian
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122, Padova, Italy
- Norman A. Grogin
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Lisa J. Kewley
- ORCiD
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Allison Kirkpatrick
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas , Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
- Peter Kurczynski
- ORCiD
- Observational Cosmology Laboratory, Code 665, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Jennifer M. Lotz
- ORCiD
- Gemini Observatory/NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Laura Pentericci
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, I-00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Nor Pirzkal
- ORCiD
- ESA/AURA Space Telescope Science Institute , USA
- Swara Ravindranath
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Russell E. Ryan Jr.
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Jonathan R. Trump
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196 Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Guang Yang
- ORCiD
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands; SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research , Postbus 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
- and The CEERS Team:
- Omar Almaini
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham , University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
- Ricardo O. Amorín
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Investigación Multidisciplinar en Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad de La Serena , Raul Bitrán 1305, La Serena 2204000, Chile; Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de La Serena , Av. Juan Cisternas 1200 Norte, La Serena 1720236, Chile
- Marianna Annunziatella
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA) , Ctra de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850, Madrid, Spain
- Bren E. Backhaus
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196 Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Guillermo Barro
- Department of Physics, University of the Pacific , Stockton, CA 90340, USA
- Peter Behroozi
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Division of Science, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
- Eric F. Bell
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan , 1085 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1107, USA
- Rachana Bhatawdekar
- ORCiD
- European Space Agency , ESA/ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
- Laura Bisigello
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, I-35122, Padova, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “G.Galilei,” Universitá di Padova , Via Marzolo 8, I-35131 Padova, Italy
- Volker Bromm
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Véronique Buat
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM Marseille, France
- Fernando Buitrago
- ORCiD
- Departamento de Física Teórica, Atómica y Óptica, Universidad de Valladolid , E-47011 Valladolid, Spain; Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade de Lisboa , OAL, Tapada da Ajuda, PT1349-018 Lisbon, Portugal
- Antonello Calabrò
- ORCiD
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via Frascati 33, Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Caitlin M. Casey
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Marco Castellano
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, I-00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Óscar A. Chávez Ortiz
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Laure Ciesla
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM Marseille, France
- Nikko J. Cleri
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA
- Seth H. Cohen
- ORCiD
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- Justin W. Cole
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA
- Kevin C. Cooke
- ORCiD
- AAAS S&T Policy Fellow hosted at the National Science Foundation , 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005, USA
- M. C. Cooper
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California , Irvine, 4129 Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Asantha R. Cooray
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California , Irvine, 4129 Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Luca Costantin
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA) , Ctra de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850, Madrid, Spain
- Isabella G. Cox
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Darren Croton
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Emanuele Daddi
- ORCiD
- Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité , CEA, CNRS, AIM, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Romeel Davé
- ORCiD
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh , Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ UK; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape , Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville, Cape Town 7535, South Africa
- Alexander de la Vega
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD, USA
- Avishai Dekel
- ORCiD
- Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , Jerusalem 91904, Israel
- David Elbaz
- ORCiD
- Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité , CEA, CNRS, AIM, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Vicente Estrada-Carpenter
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Physics, Saint Mary’s University , 923 Robie Street, Halifax, NS, B3H 3C3, Canada
- Sandra M. Faber
- University of California Observatories and Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California , Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
- Vital Fernández
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Investigación Multidisciplinar en Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad de La Serena , Raul Bitrán 1305, La Serena 2204000, Chile
- Keely D. Finkelstein
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Jonathan Freundlich
- ORCiD
- Université de Strasbourg , CNRS, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
- Seiji Fujimoto
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Lyngbyvej 2, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
- Ángela García-Argumánez
- ORCiD
- Departamento de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Facultad de CC Físicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid , E-28040, Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Física de Partículas y del Cosmos IPARCOS, Facultad de CC Físicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid , E-28040 Madrid, Spain
- Jonathan P. Gardner
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Eric Gawiser
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey , Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
- Carlos Gómez-Guijarro
- ORCiD
- Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité , CEA, CNRS, AIM, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Yuchen Guo
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Kurt Hamblin
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas , Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
- Timothy S. Hamilton
- ORCiD
- Shawnee State University , Portsmouth, OH, USA
- Nimish P. Hathi
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Benne W. Holwerda
- ORCiD
- Physics & Astronomy Department, University of Louisville , Louisville, KY 40292, USA
- Michaela Hirschmann
- ORCiD
- Institute of Physics , Laboratory of Galaxy Evolution, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- Taylor A. Hutchison
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; NSF Graduate Fellow
- Anne E. Jaskot
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, Williams College , Williamstown, MA 01267, USA
- Saurabh W. Jha
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey , Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
- Shardha Jogee
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Stéphanie Juneau
- ORCiD
- NSF’s NOIRLab , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Intae Jung
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; Department of Physics, The Catholic University of America , Washington, DC 20064, USA; Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology , NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Susan A. Kassin
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Department of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Aurélien Le Bail
- ORCiD
- Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité , CEA, CNRS, AIM, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Gene C. K. Leung
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Ray A. Lucas
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Benjamin Magnelli
- ORCiD
- Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité , CEA, CNRS, AIM, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Kameswara Bharadwaj Mantha
- Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota , 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Jasleen Matharu
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA
- Elizabeth J. McGrath
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colby College , Waterville, ME 04901, USA
- Daniel H. McIntosh
- Division of Energy, Matter and Systems, School of Science and Engineering, University of Missouri–Kansas City , Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
- Emiliano Merlin
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, I-00078 Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
- Bahram Mobasher
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- Jeffrey A. Newman
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- David C. Nicholls
- ORCiD
- Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University , Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia
- Viraj Pandya
- ORCiD
- Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University , 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA
- Marc Rafelski
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Kaila Ronayne
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy , Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA
- Paola Santini
- ORCiD
- INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, I-00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Lise-Marie Seillé
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM Marseille, France
- Ekta A. Shah
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- Lu Shen
- ORCiD
- CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China; School of Astronomy and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei, 230026, People’s Republic of China
- Raymond C. Simons
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Gregory F. Snyder
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Elizabeth R. Stanway
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Warwick , Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
- Amber N. Straughn
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Harry I. Teplitz
- ORCiD
- IPAC, Mail Code 314-6, California Institute of Technology , 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Brittany N. Vanderhoof
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Jesús Vega-Ferrero
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias , La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
- Weichen Wang
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Benjamin J. Weiner
- ORCiD
- MMT/Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Christopher N. A. Willmer
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Stijn Wuyts
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Bath , Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
- Jorge A. Zavala
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac966e
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 940,
no. 2
p. L55
Abstract
We report the discovery of a candidate galaxy with a photo- z of z ∼ 12 in the first epoch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey. Following conservative selection criteria, we identify a source with a robust z _phot = ${11.8}_{-0.2}^{+0.3}$ (1 σ uncertainty) with m _F200W = 27.3 and ≳7 σ detections in five filters. The source is not detected at λ 1.9 mag (2 σ lower limit) with a blue continuum slope, resulting in 99.6% of the photo- z probability distribution function favoring z > 11. All data-quality images show no artifacts at the candidate’s position, and independent analyses consistently find a strong preference for z > 11. Its colors are inconsistent with Galactic stars, and it is resolved ( r _h = 340 ± 14 pc). Maisie’s Galaxy has log M _* / M _⊙ ∼ 8.5 and is highly star-forming (log sSFR ∼ −8.2 yr ^−1 ), with a blue rest-UV color ( β ∼ −2.5) indicating little dust, though not extremely low metallicity. While the presence of this source is in tension with most predictions, it agrees with empirical extrapolations assuming UV luminosity functions that smoothly decline with increasing redshift. Should follow-up spectroscopy validate this redshift, our universe was already aglow with galaxies less than 400 Myr after the Big Bang.
Keywords
