James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post

JADES Initial Data Release for the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Revealing the Faint Infrared Sky with Deep JWST NIRCam Imaging

A comparison of JWST imaging to that of HST and Spitzer, using the same small region of the HUDF. (top)The NIRCam F090W image on the left, compared to the HST F850LP image (116 hrs Whitaker et al. 2019) on theright. (middle) The NIRCam F150W image on the left, compared to the HST F160W image (65 hrs Whitaker et al. 2019) on the right. The JWST imaging is notably sharper than HST, and mildly deeper than even these very long HST exposures. (bottom) The NIRCam F356W image on the left, compared to the Spitzer IRAC Channel 1 3.6 µm image (Stefanon et al. 2021) on the right. JWST is far deeper and sharper than the deepest Spitzer data. Abstract: JWST has revolutionized the field of extragalactic astronomy with its sensitive and high-resolution infrared view of the distant universe. Adding to the new legacy of JWST observations, we present the first NIRCam imaging data release from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) providing 9 filters of infrared imaging of ~25 arcmin2 covering the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and portions of Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) South. Utilizing 87 on-sky dual-filter hours of exposure time, these images reveal the deepest ever near-infrared view of this iconic field. We supply carefully constructed 9-band mosaics of the JADES bands, as well as matching reductions of 5 additional bands from the JWST Extragalactic Medium-band Survey (JEMS). Combining with existing HST imaging, we provide 23-band space-based photometric catalogs and photometric redshifts for ˜47,500 sources. To promote broad engagement with the JADES survey, we have created an interactive {\tt FitsMap} website to provide an interface for professional researchers and the public to experience these JWST datasets. Combined with the first JADES NIRSpec data release, these public JADES imaging and spectroscopic datasets provide a new foundation for discoveries of the infrared universe by the worldwide scientific community.