Mapping the Early Universe With NASA’s Webb Space Telescope

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CEERS Survey

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The CEERS Survey scientists will utilize the James Webb Space Telescope to observe the Extended Groth Strip in infrared light. Their observations utilize 3 of the telescope’s instruments and will offer both images and spectra of the things in the field — that includes a minimum of 50,000 galaxies — assisting to broaden what we understand about galaxies in the really early universe. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Davis (University of California, Berkeley)

Astronomers and engineers have actually developed telescopes, in part, to be “time travelers.” The further away an item is, the longer its light requires to reach Earth. Peering back in time is one reason that NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope focuses on gathering infrared light: These longer wavelengths, which were at first produced by stars and galaxies as ultraviolet light more than 13 billion years back, have actually extended, or redshifted, into infrared light as they took a trip towards us through the broadening universe.

Although lots of other observatories, consisting of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, have actually formerly developed “deep fields” by looking at little locations of the sky for considerable portions of time, the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, led by Steven L. Finkelstein of the University of Texas at Austin, will be the very first for Webb. He and his research study group will invest simply over 60 hours pointing the telescope at a piece of the sky referred to as the Extended Groth Strip, which was observed as part of Hubble’s Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey or CANDELS.

Cosmic Reionization Infographic

More than 13 billion years back, throughout the Era of Reionization, deep space was a really various location. The gas in between galaxies was mainly nontransparent to energetic light, making it hard to observe young galaxies. What permitted deep space to end up being entirely ionized, or transparent, ultimately causing the “clear” conditions found in much of deep space today? The James Webb Space Telescope will peer deep into area to collect more info about things that existed throughout the Era of Reionization to assist us comprehend this significant shift in the history of deep space. Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Kang (STScI)

“With Webb, we want to do the first reconnaissance for galaxies even closer to the big bang,” Finkelstein stated. “It is absolutely not possible to do this research with any other telescope. Webb is able to do remarkable things at wavelengths that have been difficult to observe in the past, on the ground or in space.”

Mark Dickinson of the National Science Foundation’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory in Arizona, and among the CEERS Survey co-investigators, provides a nod to Hubble while likewise eagerly anticipating Webb’s observations. “Surveys like the Hubble Deep Field have allowed us to map the history of cosmic star formation in galaxies within a half a billion years of the big bang all the way to the present in surprising detail,” he stated. “With CEERS, Webb will look even farther to add new data to those surveys.”

Delivering the Unseen

What was the early universe like? There are definitely lots of information points, however inadequate to produce an extensive census of its conditions. Plus, scientists’ understanding and presumptions are upgraded regularly — each time a brand-new deep direct exposure is launched. “Every time we look farther, we find galaxies earlier and earlier than we thought possible,” stated CEERS Survey co-investigator Jeyhan Kartaltepe of the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. “The conditions in the very early universe had to be right for galaxies to form — and they formed and became massive very quickly.”

“The universe was more compact at this time, which means stars and galaxies could have formed at a greater efficiency,” Finkelstein included. “Some models predict we’ll find 50 galaxies at earlier eras more distant than Hubble can reach, but others predict we will only find a few. In both cases, the data will help us constrain galaxy formation in the early universe.”

The CEERS Survey group wants to recognize an abundance of far-off things, consisting of the most far-off galaxies in deep space, early galaxy mergers and interactions, the very first huge or supermassive great voids, and even previously quasars than formerly determined. These capacity “firsts” are just the start of the worth of this research study: The group, which is comprised of over 100 scientists from around the globe, will go on to categorize lots of things in the field. “These data will help demonstrate what the structure of the universe was like at various periods,” Finkelstein described.

Hitting “Rewind”

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this research study is how the group will utilize the information to reveal brand-new findings about an essential duration of deep space’s history called the “Era of Reionization.” The huge bang triggered a series of occasions, causing the cosmic microwave background, the dark ages, the very first stars and galaxies — and after that to the Era of Reionization. During this duration, the gas in deep space changed from primarily neutral, suggesting it was nontransparent to ultraviolet light, and ended up being entirely ionized, which permitted it to be transparent. Ionization implies the atoms were removed of their electrons — ultimately causing the “clear” conditions found in much of deep space today.

Many concerns stay about this distinct time in our universe. For example, what was accountable for transforming the gas from neutral to ionized? And the length of time did it take prior to deep space ended up being considerably less nontransparent and far more transparent?

“We think this happened when ultraviolet light escaped young, forming galaxies,” Dickinson described. “There may be other factors. For example, early accreting black holes may also have emitted ultraviolet light that eventually helped transform the gas.”

Where the galaxies appear on the sky provides another hint. “We’ll examine reionization-era galaxies to see if they are clustered together in the same regions or if they are more isolated,” stated Kartaltepe. “We have a lot of ideas about what causes galaxies to grow and become more massive, but we need more comprehensive information about these galaxies to fully understand how they initially grew and evolved.”

The existence of stellar mergers or interactions — or do not have thereof — will likewise assist the group trace the conditions of the environment throughout the Era of Reionization. “The CEERS Survey will give us hints about how this period proceeded,” Dickinson includes. “We will certainly learn about the galaxies we think are responsible, and also hope to learn about the ionizing radiation that escaped them.”

The group has actually developed the CEERS Survey to offer as much complementary information as possible for lots of targets in this field of vision. They will utilize 3 of Webb’s instruments, in numerous modes, to get pictures of the Extended Groth Strip, in addition to spectra. Spectra are indispensable information considering that they assist scientists recognize the colors, temperature levels, movements, and masses of each target, and offer a far more thorough take a look at the chemical makeup of far-off things.

“That’s the difference with Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph, or NIRSpec,” Dickinson highlighted. “We’ll open the spectrograph’s microshutter slits to individually observe hundreds of galaxies to obtain their spectra for the first time.”

Beginning to Build a Census

In the months following the preliminary information release, the CEERS Survey scientists will produce and publish brand-new tools and brochures any scientist can utilize to examine the information, consisting of masses of galaxies, galaxy shapes, and photometric redshifts. “With the same set of observations, hundreds of researchers can conduct hundreds of science experiments,” Kartaltepe stated. “We’re also going to find things we didn’t even think to ask, which is one more reason why the CEERS Survey research will be so rewarding.”

“Our hope is that the CEERS Survey will influence future distant galaxy surveys with Webb,” Finkelstein included. “It will also demonstrate to the community that observing with a variety of instruments and modes are very valid ways to increase Webb’s scientific yield.”

This research study is being performed as part of a Webb Early Release Science (ERS) program. This program offers time to chosen tasks early in the telescope’s objective, permitting scientists to rapidly discover how finest to utilize Webb’s abilities, while likewise yielding robust science.

The James Webb Space Telescope will be the world’s leading area science observatory when it introduces in 2021. Webb will resolve secrets in our planetary system, look beyond to far-off worlds around other stars, and probe the strange structures and origins of our universe and our location in it. Webb is a worldwide program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.