The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2025)
BEACON: JWST NIRCam Pure-parallel Imaging Survey. I. Survey Design and Initial Results
- Takahiro Morishita,
- Charlotte A. Mason,
- Kimi C. Kreilgaard,
- Michele Trenti,
- Tommaso Treu,
- Benedetta Vulcani,
- Yechi Zhang,
- Abdurro’uf,
- Anahita Alavi,
- Hakim Atek,
- Yannick Bahé,
- Maruša Bradač,
- Larry D. Bradley,
- Andrew J. Bunker,
- Dan Coe,
- James Colbert,
- Viola Gelli,
- Matthew J. Hayes,
- Tucker Jones,
- Tadayuki Kodama,
- Nicha Leethochawalit,
- Zhaoran Liu,
- Matthew A. Malkan,
- Vihang Mehta,
- Benjamin Metha,
- Andrew B. Newman,
- Marc Rafelski,
- Guido Roberts-Borsani,
- Michael J. Rutkowski,
- Claudia Scarlata,
- Massimo Stiavelli,
- Ryo A. Sutanto,
- Kosuke Takahashi,
- Harry I. Teplitz,
- Xin Wang
Affiliations
- Takahiro Morishita
- ORCiD
- IPAC, California Institute of Technology , MC 314-6, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA ; [email protected], [email protected]
- Charlotte A. Mason
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
- Kimi C. Kreilgaard
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
- Michele Trenti
- ORCiD
- School of Physics, University of Melbourne , Parkville 3010, VIC, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Tommaso Treu
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Los Angeles, 430 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Benedetta Vulcani
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova , vicolo dell’Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
- Yechi Zhang
- ORCiD
- IPAC, California Institute of Technology , MC 314-6, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA ; [email protected], [email protected]
- Abdurro’uf
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Anahita Alavi
- ORCiD
- IPAC, Mail Code 314-6, California Institute of Technology , 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Hakim Atek
- ORCiD
- Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, Sorbonne Université , 98bis Boulevard Arago, 75014, Paris, France
- Yannick Bahé
- ORCiD
- Institute of Physics , Laboratory of Astrophysics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- Maruša Bradač
- ORCiD
- University of Ljubljana , Department of Mathematics and Physics, Jadranska ulica 19, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Davis , 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- Larry D. Bradley
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Andrew J. Bunker
- Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
- Dan Coe
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) , Inc. for the European Space Agency (ESA), USA
- James Colbert
- ORCiD
- IPAC , California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Viola Gelli
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark; Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
- Matthew J. Hayes
- ORCiD
- Stockholm University , Department of Astronomy and Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, AlbaNova University Centre, SE-10691, Stockholm, Sweden
- Tucker Jones
- ORCiD
- University of California , Davis, Department of Physics and Astronomy, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- Tadayuki Kodama
- ORCiD
- Astronomical Institute, Tohoku University , 6-3 Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan
- Nicha Leethochawalit
- ORCiD
- National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) , Mae Rim, Chiang Mai, 50180, Thailand
- Zhaoran Liu
- ORCiD
- Astronomical Institute, Tohoku University , 6-3 Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan
- Matthew A. Malkan
- ORCiD
- University of California , Los Angeles, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 430 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Vihang Mehta
- ORCiD
- IPAC , California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Benjamin Metha
- ORCiD
- School of Physics, University of Melbourne , Parkville 3010, VIC, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Andrew B. Newman
- ORCiD
- Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science , Pasadena, CA, 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
- Guido Roberts-Borsani
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva , Chemin Pegasi 51, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- Michael J. Rutkowski
- ORCiD
- Minnesota State University , Mankato, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 141 Trafton Science Center N, Mankato, MN 56001, USA
- Claudia Scarlata
- ORCiD
- University of Minnesota , Twin Cities, 116 Church St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Massimo Stiavelli
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Ryo A. Sutanto
- ORCiD
- Astronomical Institute, Tohoku University , 6-3 Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan
- Kosuke Takahashi
- ORCiD
- Astronomical Institute, Tohoku University , 6-3 Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8578, Japan
- Harry I. Teplitz
- ORCiD
- IPAC, Mail Code 314-6, California Institute of Technology , 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Xin Wang
- ORCiD
- School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) , Beijing 100049, People’s Republic of China; National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of China; Institute for Frontiers in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Beijing Normal University , Beijing 102206, People’s Republic of China
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adbbdc
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 983,
no. 2
p. 152
Abstract
We introduce the Bias-free Extragalactic Analysis for Cosmic Origins with NIRCam (BEACON) survey, a JWST Cycle 2 program allocated up to 600 pure-parallel hours of observations. BEACON explores high-latitude areas of the sky with JWST/NIRCam over ∼100 independent sight lines, totaling ∼0.3 deg ^2 , reaching a median F444W depth of ≈28.2 AB mag (5 σ ). Based on existing JWST observations in legacy fields, we estimate that BEACON will photometrically identify 25–150 galaxies at z > 10 and 500–1000 at z ∼ 7–10 uniquely enabled by an efficient multiple filter configuration spanning 0.9–5.0 μ m. The expected sample size of z > 10 galaxies will allow us to obtain robust number density estimates and to discriminate between different models of early star formation. In this paper, we present an overview of the survey design and initial results using the first 19 fields. We present 129 galaxy candidates at z ≳7 identified in those fields, including 11 galaxies at z ≳10 and several UV-luminous ( M _UV 13, providing us with a complimentary insight into early galaxy evolution with minimal cosmic variance. We publish imaging and catalog data products for these initial fields. Upon survey completion, all BEACON data will be coherently processed and distributed to the community along with catalogs for redshift and other physical quantities.
Keywords
