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. Perez-Gonzalez, 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. Amorin, Guillermo Barro, Rachana Bhatawdekar, Laura Bisigello, Madisyn Brooks, Fernando Buitrago, Antonello Calabro, 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 Fernandez, Seiji Fujimoto, Giovanni Gandolfi, Jonathan P. Gardner, Eric Gawiser, Mauro Giavalisco, Carlos Gomez-Guijarro, Yuchen Guo, Ansh R. Gupta, Nimish P. Hathi, Santosh Harish, Aurelien Henry, Michaela Hirschmann, Weida Hu, Taylor A. Hutchison, Kartheik G. Iyer, Anne E. Jaskot, Saurabh W. Jha, Intae Jung, 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, Alexa M. Morales, Lorenzo Napolitano, Fabio Pacucci, Viraj Pandya, Marc Rafelski, Giulia Rodighiero, Caitlin Rose, Paola Santini, Lise-Marie Seille, Raymond C. Simons, Lu Shen, Amber N. Straughn, Sandro Tacchella, Brittany N. Vanderhoof, Jesus 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

First listed 2025-01-07 | Last updated 2025-01-07

Abstract

We present the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, a 77.2 hour 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 (EGS) 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<z<10, enabling redshift measurements and constraints on the physical conditions of star-formation and black hole growth via line diagnostics; 3) Quantifying the first bulge, bar and disk structures at z>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 quality of the data, we provide science highlights from the first two years with CEERS data.

Short digest

CEERS is a 77.2 hr ERS survey in the EGS that uses coordinated, overlapping NIRCam/MIRI imaging, NIRSpec low–medium resolution spectroscopy, and NIRCam slitless grism data to validate efficient extragalactic mapping. From ~90 arcmin^2 of NIRCam imaging it uncovered large samples of z ≳ 10 galaxies and secured >1000 spectra, including dozens at 6<z<10, enabling redshifts and rest‑optical line diagnostics that probe star formation and supermassive black hole growth. The program also quantifies the first bulge, bar, and disk structures at z>3 and leverages MIRI mid‑IR emission to trace dust‑obscured star formation and black‑hole accretion at z~1–3. As a legacy, CEERS releases processed data with detailed reduction notes and reproducible notebooks.

Key figures to inspect

• Survey footprint/tiling over the EGS showing NIRCam, NIRSpec, and MIRI coverage and their overlaps—useful for planning cross‑instrument AGN searches and understanding depth variations across the field.
• Representative NIRSpec R~1000 spectra for 6<z<10 galaxies highlighting rest‑optical lines (e.g., [O III], Hβ, Hα when accessible) and example line‑ratio diagnostics used to separate star formation from accretion.
• NIRCam high‑z yield figure: sky distribution and number counts/photometric‑redshift distribution of z ≳ 10 candidates from ~90 arcmin^2, clarifying selection limits and contamination control.
• MIRI mid‑IR diagnostic plot (colors or SED fits) at z~1–3 illustrating separation of dust‑obscured star formation from SMBH-heated emission and the redshift leverage of the filter set.
• Morphology results at z>3: examples and fractions of bars/bulges/disks from NIRCam rest‑optical imaging, showing how early structural assembly correlates with stellar mass/redshift.