This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.

pdf/the-science-performance-of-jwst-as-characterized-in-2r32pqq4.pdf

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit. 

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acd1b5/pdf

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Abstract We report the discovery of an accreting supermassive black hole at z = 8.679. This galaxy, denoted here as CEERS_1019, was previously discovered as a Ly α -break galaxy by Hubble with a Ly α redshift from Keck. As part of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey, we have observed this source with JWST/NIRSpec, MIRI, NIRCam, and NIRCam/WFSS and uncovered a plethora of emission lines. The H β line is best fit by a narrow plus a broad component, where the latter is measured at 2.5 σ with an FWHM ∼1200 km s −1 . We conclude this originates in the broadline region of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). This is supported by the presence of weak high-ionization lines (N V, N IV], and C III]), as well as a spatial point-source component. The implied mass of the black hole (BH) is log ( M BH / M ⊙ ) = 6.95 ± 0.37, and we estimate that it is accreting at 1.2 ± 0.5 times the Eddington limit. The 1–8 μ m photometric spectral energy distribution shows a continuum dominated by starlight and constrains the host galaxy to be massive (log M/M ⊙ ∼9.5) and highly star-forming (star formation rate, or SFR ∼ 30 M ⊙ yr −1 ; log sSFR ∼ − 7.9 yr −1 ). The line ratios show that the gas is metal-poor ( Z / Z ⊙ ∼ 0.1), dense ( n e ∼ 10 3 cm −3 ), and highly ionized (log U ∼ − 2.1). We use this present highest-redshift AGN discovery to place constraints on BH seeding models and find that a combination of either super-Eddington accretion from stellar seeds or Eddington accretion from very massive BH seeds is required to form this object. 

A CEERS Discovery of an Accreting Supermassive Black Hole 570 Myr after the Big Bang: Identifying a Progenitor of Massive z &gt; 6 Quasars

The James Webb Space Telescope, planned to extend the scientific discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope, will be a powerful observational tool for the investigation of the first stars and galaxies. With a 6.5‐m hexagonal mirror cooled to ∼40 K, and an instrument package covering 0.6 to 28 μm with imaging, spectroscopy with R up to ∼3000, and coronography, it will be capable of observing predicted primeval objects down to flux levels of a few nJy (10 σ) at 2 μm. Operated like the Hubble telescope from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, it will be available for general observers by proposals, to be solicited a year before launch. It has a required lifetime of 5 years and fuel for 10.

pdf/the-james-webb-space-telescope-mission-4bq2h0esml.pdf

Context. The Medium-Resolution Spectrometer (MRS) provides one of the four operating modes of the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on board the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The MRS is an integral field spectrometer, measuring the spatial and spectral distributions of light across the 5–28 µm wavelength range with a spectral resolving power between 3700 and 1300.
Aims. We present the MRS’s optical, spectral, and spectro-photometric performance, as achieved in flight, and we report on the effects that limit the instrument’s ultimate sensitivity.
Methods. The MRS flight performance has been quantified using observations of stars, planetary nebulae, and planets in our Solar System. The precision and accuracy of this calibration was checked against celestial calibrators with well-known flux levels and spectral features.
Results. We find that the MRS geometric calibration has a distortion solution accuracy relative to the commanded position of 8 mas at 5 µm and 23 mas at 28 µm. The wavelength calibration is accurate to within 9 km s−1 at 5 µm and 27 km s−1 at 28 µm. The uncertainty in the absolute spectro-photometric calibration accuracy was estimated at 5.6 ± 0.7%. The MIRI calibration pipeline is able to suppress the amplitude of spectral fringes to below 1.5% for both extended and point sources across the entire wavelength range. The MRS point spread function (PSF) is 60% broader than the diffraction limit along its long axis at 5 µm and is 15% broader at 28 µm.
Conclusions. The MRS flight performance is found to be better than prelaunch expectations. The MRS is one of the most subscribed observing modes of JWST and is yielding many high-profile publications. It is currently humanity’s most powerful instrument for measuring the mid-infrared spectra of celestial sources and is expected to continue as such for many years to come.

/pdf/jwst-miri-flight-performance-the-medium-resolution-cbb3oa5n.pdf

JWST MIRI flight performance: The Medium-Resolution Spectrometer

The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) extends the reach of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to 28.5 μm. It provides subarcsecond-resolution imaging, high sensitivity coronagraphy, and spectroscopy at resolutions of λ/Δλ ∼ 100–3500, with the high-resolution mode employing an integral field unit to provide spatial data cubes. The resulting broad suite of capabilities will enable huge advances in studies over this wavelength range. This overview describes the history of acquiring this capability for JWST. It discusses the basic attributes of the instrument optics, the detector arrays, and the cryocooler that keeps everything at approximately 7 K. It gives a short description of the data pipeline and of the instrument performance demonstrated during JWST commissioning. The bottom line is that the telescope and MIRI are both operating to the standards set by pre-launch predictions, and all of the MIRI capabilities are operating at, or even a bit better than, the level that had been expected. The paper is also designed to act as a roadmap to more detailed papers on different aspects of MIRI.

The Mid-infrared Instrument for JWST and Its In-flight Performance

This paper reports on the world's first CMOS low noise amplifier (LNA) operating successfully on a radio telescope since October 15th, 2010. The radio telescope used in this work is the Synthesis Telescope operated by the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, NRC, and located near Penticton, BC, Canada. This paper describes the work that led to the installation of the LNA on the telescope and shows measurement results obtained with the telescope.

The first CMOS LNA on a radio telescope

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The Mid-infrared Instrument for JWST and Its In-flight Performance

The first CMOS LNA on a radio telescope