The Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey

We propose the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey (NOI #135), which covers 100 sq. arcmin with JWST imaging and spectroscopy, and is designed to achieve the DD-ERS goals.

CEERS will inform the selection of a wide variety of spectroscopic targets for Cycle 2 with a practical choice of imaging area, depth, and wavelength coverage, targeting a field that is supported by a rich set of HST/CANDELS multi-wavelength data.

CEERS will demonstrate, test, and validate efficient extragalactic surveys with coordinated, overlapping parallel observations with the JWST instrument suite, including NIRCam and MIRI imaging, NIRSpec R 100 and R 1000 spectroscopy, and NIRCam slitless grism (R 1500) spectroscopy. These tests enable Cycle 2 observations, including validating JWST parallel observing modes, dither and exposure-time strategies, and spectroscopic observing modes including slit-loss corrections.

CEERS enables immediate community science into both extragalactic JWST science drivers “First Light and Reionization” and “The Assembly of Galaxies”, including: 1) The discovery of 20-80 galaxies at z 9-13, constraining their abundance and physical nature; 2) Deep spectra of >400 galaxies at z>3, including 40 known candidates at 63; and 4) Characterizing galaxy mid-IR emission to study dust-obscured star-formation and supermassive black hole growth at z 1-3.

The CEERS collaboration is diverse on many axes with demonstrated expertise in rapid delivery of high-level science products.