Cambridge scientists awarded nearly 300 hours of observing time with the James Webb Space Telescope

Scientists at the Cavendish Laboratory have been allocated more than 300 hours of observing time with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This observing time has been awarded through four successful programmes, including a Large Programme, led by Hannah Übler, Tobias Looser, Francesco D’Eugenio and Roberto Maiolino, and involving several members of the Cavendish and Kavli Institute for Cosmology, Cambridge (KICC), as well as a broader team of international collaborators.

These programmes are aimed at finding and characterising the first generation of stars and black holes in the early Universe, as well as their evolution and transformation across the cosmic epochs.

The four approved programmes are:

• Unveiling the nature and impact of the first population of black holes: an extensive NIRSpec-IFU survey in the first billion years. PI: Hannah Übler; Co-PI: Roberto Maiolino (137 hours)
• OASIS: Observing All phases of StochastIc Star formation – A census of galaxies at z = 5–8 over the entire SFR–M* plane. PI: Tobias Looser; Co-PI: Francesco D’Eugenio (128 hours)
• Confirming Population III or a Direct Collapse Black Hole in the halo of GN-z11 at z=10.6. PI: Roberto Maiolino (48 hours)
• Weighting the odd: dynamics, assembly history and quenching of the oldest galaxy in the young Universe. PI: Francesco D’Eugenio; Co-PI: Karl Glazebrook (Swinburne) (23 hours)

These programmes will enable Cambridge scientists to continue and expand a successful research programme, developed during the past years through extensive JWST observations, aimed at understanding the origin of stars, galaxies and black holes, as well as the production of the first chemical elements.

Image: NASA