The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Jan 2023)
CEERS Epoch 1 NIRCam Imaging: Reduction Methods and Simulations Enabling Early JWST Science Results
- Micaela B. Bagley,
- Steven L. Finkelstein,
- Anton M. Koekemoer,
- Henry C. Ferguson,
- Pablo Arrabal Haro,
- Mark Dickinson,
- Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe,
- Casey Papovich,
- Pablo G. Pérez-González,
- Nor Pirzkal,
- Rachel S. Somerville,
- Christopher N. A. Willmer,
- Guang Yang,
- L. Y. Aaron Yung,
- Adriano Fontana,
- Andrea Grazian,
- Norman A. Grogin,
- Michaela Hirschmann,
- Lisa J. Kewley,
- Allison Kirkpatrick,
- Dale D. Kocevski,
- Jennifer M. Lotz,
- Aubrey Medrano,
- Alexa M. Morales,
- Laura Pentericci,
- Swara Ravindranath,
- Jonathan R. Trump,
- Stephen M. Wilkins,
- Antonello Calabrò,
- M. C. Cooper,
- Luca Costantin,
- Alexander de la Vega,
- Bryan Hilbert,
- Taylor A. Hutchison,
- Rebecca L. Larson,
- Ray A. Lucas,
- Elizabeth J. McGrath,
- Russell Ryan,
- Xin Wang,
- Stijn Wuyts
Affiliations
- Micaela B. Bagley
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX 78712, USA ; [email protected]
- Steven L. Finkelstein
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX 78712, USA ; [email protected]
- Anton M. Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Henry C. Ferguson
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, 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
- 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
- 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 , USA
- Rachel S. Somerville
- ORCiD
- Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, USA
- Christopher N. A. Willmer
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ, 85721, 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
- L. Y. Aaron Yung
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Adriano Fontana
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, I-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
- Michaela Hirschmann
- ORCiD
- Institute of Physics, Laboratory of Galaxy Evolution , Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
- Lisa J. Kewley
- ORCiD
- Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Allison Kirkpatrick
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas , Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
- Dale D. Kocevski
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colby College , Waterville, ME 04901, USA
- Jennifer M. Lotz
- ORCiD
- Gemini Observatory/NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- Aubrey Medrano
- ORCiD
- University of Massachusetts Amherst , 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003-9305, USA
- Alexa M. Morales
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX 78712, USA ; [email protected]
- Laura Pentericci
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, I-00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- Swara Ravindranath
- 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
- 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
- Antonello Calabrò
- ORCiD
- INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma , via di Frascati 33, I-00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
- M. C. Cooper
- 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
- Alexander de la Vega
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , 900 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92521, USA
- Bryan Hilbert
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Taylor A. Hutchison
- ORCiD
- Astrophysics Science Division , NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Rd., Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
- Rebecca L. Larson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX 78712, USA ; [email protected]
- Ray A. Lucas
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
- Elizabeth J. McGrath
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colby College , Waterville, ME 04901, USA
- Russell Ryan
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, 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
- Stijn Wuyts
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, University of Bath , Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acbb08
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 946,
no. 1
p. L12
Abstract
We present the data release and data reduction process for the Epoch 1 NIRCam observations for the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS). These data consist of NIRCam imaging in six broadband filters (F115W, F150W, F200W, F277W, F356W and F444W) and one medium-band filter (F410M) over four pointings, obtained in parallel with primary CEERS MIRI observations. We reduced the NIRCam imaging with the JWST Calibration Pipeline, with custom modifications and reduction steps designed to address additional features and challenges with the data. Here we provide a detailed description of each step in our reduction and a discussion of future expected improvements. Our reduction process includes corrections for known prelaunch issues such as 1/ f noise, as well as in-flight issues including snowballs, wisps, and astrometric alignment. Many of our custom reduction processes were first developed with prelaunch simulated NIRCam imaging over the full 10 CEERS NIRCam pointings. We present a description of the creation and reduction of this simulated data set in the Appendix. We provide mosaics of the real images in a public release, as well as our reduction scripts with detailed explanations to allow users to reproduce our final data products. These represent one of the first official public data sets released from the Directors Discretionary Early Release Science (DD-ERS) program.
Keywords
