BEASTS (JWST Cycle 1, GO 2659) used NIRSpec IFU PRISM spectroscopy to observe five of the brightest z ≈ 9 galaxy candidates in COSMOS. Three are confirmed at z = 7.2–8.2, each resolved into two or three components, and two are lower-redshift interlopers. See the first results.
BEASTS is led by John R. Weaver (MIT) with student team leads Negin Nezhad, Faezeh Manesh, and Lauren Henson, and is supported by NASA.
Coming next: Euclid × JWST
Cycle 5 program GO 11286 (PI Allen, co-PIs Oesch and Weaver) will observe seven of the most luminous z ≈ 9 candidates found by Euclid. More.
