The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2025)
The Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS)
- Steven L. Finkelstein,
- Micaela B. Bagley,
- Pablo Arrabal Haro,
- Mark Dickinson,
- Henry C. Ferguson,
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe,
- Dale D. Kocevski,
- Anton M. Koekemoer,
- Jennifer M. Lotz,
- Casey Papovich,
- Pablo G. Pérez-González,
- Nor Pirzkal,
- Rachel S. Somerville,
- Jonathan R. Trump,
- Guang Yang,
- L. Y. Aaron Yung,
- Adriano Fontana,
- Andrea Grazian,
- Norman A. Grogin,
- Lisa J. Kewley,
- Allison Kirkpatrick,
- Rebecca L. Larson,
- Laura Pentericci,
- Swara Ravindranath,
- Stephen M. Wilkins,
- Omar Almaini,
- Ricardo O. Amorín,
- Guillermo Barro,
- Rachana Bhatawdekar,
- Laura Bisigello,
- Madisyn Brooks,
- Véronique Buat,
- Fernando Buitrago,
- Denis Burgarella,
- Antonello Calabrò,
- Marco Castellano,
- Yingjie Cheng,
- Nikko J. Cleri,
- Justin W. Cole,
- M. C. Cooper,
- Olivia R. Cooper,
- Luca Costantin,
- Isa G. Cox,
- Darren Croton,
- Emanuele Daddi,
- Kelcey Davis,
- Avishai Dekel,
- David Elbaz,
- Vital Fernández,
- Seiji Fujimoto,
- Giovanni Gandolfi,
- Jonathan P. Gardner,
- Eric Gawiser,
- Mauro Giavalisco,
- Carlos Gómez-Guijarro,
- Yuchen Guo,
- Ansh R. Gupta,
- Nimish P. Hathi,
- Santosh Harish,
- Aurélien Henry,
- Michaela Hirschmann,
- Weida Hu,
- Taylor A. Hutchison,
- Kartheik G. Iyer,
- Anne E. Jaskot,
- Saurabh W. Jha,
- Intae Jung,
- Susan A. Kassin,
- Vasily Kokorev,
- Peter Kurczynski,
- Gene C. K. Leung,
- Mario Llerena,
- Arianna S. Long,
- Ray A. Lucas,
- Shiying Lu,
- Elizabeth J. McGrath,
- Daniel H. McIntosh,
- Emiliano Merlin,
- Bahram Mobasher,
- Alexa M. Morales,
- Lorenzo Napolitano,
- Fabio Pacucci,
- Viraj Pandya,
- Marc Rafelski,
- Giulia Rodighiero,
- Caitlin Rose,
- Paola Santini,
- Lise-Marie Seillé,
- Raymond C. Simons,
- Lu Shen,
- Amber N. Straughn,
- Sandro Tacchella,
- Anthony J. Taylor,
- Brittany N. Vanderhoof,
- Jesús Vega-Ferrero,
- Benjamin J. Weiner,
- Christopher N. A. Willmer,
- Peixin Zhu,
- Eric F. Bell,
- Stijn Wuyts,
- Benne W. Holwerda,
- Xin Wang,
- Weichen Wang,
- Jorge A. Zavala,
- (CEERS collaboration)
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]; Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Pablo Arrabal Haro
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Mark Dickinson
- ORCiD
- NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Henry C. Ferguson
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , Baltimore, MD, 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
- Dale D. Kocevski
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy , Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901, USA
- Anton M. Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Jennifer M. Lotz
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Gemini Observatory/NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Casey Papovich
- ORCiD
- George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University , College Station, TX, USA
- Pablo G. Pérez-González
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB/CSIC-INTA) , Ctra. de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850, Madrid, Spain
- Nor Pirzkal
- ORCiD
- ESA/AURA Space Telescope Science Institute , Australia
- Rachel S. Somerville
- ORCiD
- Center for Computational Astrophysics , Flatiron Institute, 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
- Jonathan R. Trump
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196A Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Guang Yang
- ORCiD
- Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics and Technology , Nanjing 210042, People’s Republic of China
- L. Y. Aaron Yung
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Adriano Fontana
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- 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
- Rebecca L. Larson
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Laura Pentericci
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Swara Ravindranath
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- 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
- Omar Almaini
- ORCiD
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham , University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
- Ricardo O. Amorín
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC) , Apartado 3004, 18080 Granada, Spain
- Guillermo Barro
- ORCiD
- University of the Pacific , Stockton, CA 90340, USA
- Rachana Bhatawdekar
- ORCiD
- European Space Agency (ESA) , European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Camino Bajo del Castillo s/n, 28692 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
- Laura Bisigello
- ORCiD
- INAF , Istituto di Radioastronomia, Via Piero Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “G.Galilei,” Universitá di Padova , Via Marzolo 8, I-35131 Padova, Italy
- Madisyn Brooks
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196A Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, USA
- Véronique Buat
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM Marseille, France
- Fernando Buitrago
- ORCiD
- Departamento de Física Teórica, Atómica y Óptica, Universidad de Valladolid , 47011 Valladolid, Spain; Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço , Universidade de Lisboa, OAL, Tapada da Ajuda, PT1349-018 Lisbon, Portugal
- Denis Burgarella
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM Marseille, France
- Antonello Calabrò
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Marco Castellano
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Yingjie Cheng
- ORCiD
- University of Massachusetts Amherst 710 North Pleasant Street , Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA
- Nikko J. Cleri
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, 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
- M. C. Cooper
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California , Irvine, 4129 Reines Hall, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Olivia R. Cooper
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Luca Costantin
- ORCiD
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB/CSIC-INTA) , Ctra. de Ajalvir km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz, E-28850, Madrid, Spain
- Isa 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; ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics (CDM) , Australia
- Emanuele Daddi
- ORCiD
- Université Paris-Saclay , Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Kelcey Davis
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, 196A Auditorium Road, Unit 3046, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT 06269, 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, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Vital Fernández
- ORCiD
- Michigan Institute for Data Science, Unversity of Michigan , 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Seiji Fujimoto
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Giovanni Gandolfi
- 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
- Jonathan P. Gardner
- ORCiD
- Sciences and Exploration Directorate, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Eric Gawiser
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey , Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
- Mauro Giavalisco
- ORCiD
- University of Massachusetts Amherst 710 North Pleasant Street , Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA
- Carlos Gómez-Guijarro
- ORCiD
- Université Paris-Saclay , Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Yuchen Guo
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Ansh R. Gupta
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Nimish P. Hathi
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Santosh Harish
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Aurélien Henry
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of California , Merced, 5200 Lake Road, Merced, CA 92543, USA
- Michaela Hirschmann
- ORCiD
- Institute of Physics , Laboratory of Galaxy Evolution, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- Weida Hu
- 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
- Taylor A. Hutchison
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Kartheik G. Iyer
- ORCiD
- Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University , 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA
- Anne E. Jaskot
- ORCiD
- Williams College , 33 Lab Campus Drive, Williamstown, MA 01267, USA
- Saurabh W. Jha
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey , Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
- Intae Jung
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Susan A. Kassin
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA; Department of Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University , 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Vasily Kokorev
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- Peter Kurczynski
- ORCiD
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Gene C. K. Leung
- ORCiD
- MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research , 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- Mario Llerena
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Arianna S. Long
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Washington , Seattle, WA 98195, USA
- Ray A. Lucas
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Shiying Lu
- ORCiD
- School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University , Nanjing, 210093, People’s Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University) , Ministry of Education, Nanjing, 210093, People’s Republic of China
- Elizabeth J. McGrath
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy , Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901, USA
- Daniel H. McIntosh
- ORCiD
- Division of Energy, Matter and Systems, School of Science and Engineering, University of Missouri , Kansas City, MO 64110, USA
- Emiliano Merlin
- ORCiD
- INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , Via Frascati 33, 00078 Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy
- Bahram Mobasher
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , 900 University Ave, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- Alexa M. Morales
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , 2515 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Lorenzo Napolitano
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma Sapienza , Città Universitaria di Roma–Sapienza, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 2, 00185, Roma, Italy
- Fabio Pacucci
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics—Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; Black Hole Initiative, Harvard University , 20 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- 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
- Giulia Rodighiero
- 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
- Caitlin Rose
- ORCiD
- Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology , 84 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, USA
- Paola Santini
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Lise-Marie Seillé
- ORCiD
- Aix Marseille Univ , CNRS, CNES, LAM Marseille, France
- Raymond C. Simons
- ORCiD
- Department of Engineering and Physics , Providence College, 1 Cunningham Sq., Providence, RI 02918, USA
- Lu Shen
- 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
- Amber N. Straughn
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Sandro Tacchella
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK; Cavendish Laboratory—Astrophysics Group, University of Cambridge , 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
- Anthony J. Taylor
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX, USA ; [email protected]
- 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; Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Jesús Vega-Ferrero
- ORCiD
- Departamento de Física Teórica, Atómica y Óptica, Universidad de Valladolid , 47011 Valladolid, Spain; Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón (CEFCA) , Plaza de San Juan, 1, E-44001 Teruel, Spain
- Benjamin J. Weiner
- ORCiD
- MMT/Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry St., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
- Christopher N. A. Willmer
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85751, USA
- Peixin Zhu
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan , 1085 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Eric F. Bell
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan , 1085 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Stijn Wuyts
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Bath , Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
- Benne W. Holwerda
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Louisville , Natural Science Building 102, Louisville, KY 40292, 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
- Weichen Wang
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, Universita degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca , Piazza della Scienza, 3, Milano I-20126, Italy
- Jorge A. Zavala
- ORCiD
- University of Massachusetts Amherst 710 North Pleasant Street , Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA; National Astronomical Observatory of Japan , 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan
- (CEERS collaboration)
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adbbd3
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 983,
no. 1
p. L4
Abstract
We present the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, a 77.2 hr Director’s Discretionary Early Release Science Program. CEERS demonstrates, tests, and validates efficient extragalactic surveys using coordinated, overlapping parallel observations with the JWST instrument suite, including NIRCam and MIRI imaging, NIRSpec low- ( R ∼ 100) and medium- ( R ∼ 1000) resolution spectroscopy, and NIRCam slitless grism ( R ∼ 1500) spectroscopy. CEERS targets the Hubble Space Telescope–observed region of the Extended Groth Strip field, supported by a rich set of multiwavelength data. CEERS facilitated immediate community science in both of the extragalactic core JWST science drivers “First Light” and “Galaxy Assembly,” including: (1) the discovery and characterization of large samples of galaxies at z ≳ 10 from ∼90 arcmin ^2 of NIRCam imaging, constraining their abundance and physical nature; (2) deep spectra of >1000 galaxies, including dozens of galaxies at 6 3; and (4) characterizing galaxy mid-IR emission with MIRI to study dust-obscured star formation and supermassive black hole growth at z ∼ 1–3. As a legacy product for the community, the CEERS team has provided several data releases, accompanied by detailed notes on the data reduction procedures and notebooks to aid in reproducibility. In addition to an overview of the survey and the quality of the data, we provide science highlights from the first two years with CEERS data.
Keywords
