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JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (NIRCam Image)

Thousands of small galaxies are scattered on a black background. Some are noticeably spirals, either face-on or edge-on, while others are blobby ellipticals. Many are too small to discern any structure. A few spirals are bluish, but most of the galaxies appear yellow or red. A handful of stars display eight-point diffraction spikes.

This infrared image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was taken for the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, program. It shows a portion of an area of the sky known as GOODS-South, which has been well studied by the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories. More than 45,000 galaxies are visible here.

Using these and other data, the JADES team has discovered hundreds of galaxies that existed when the universe was less than 600 million years old. The sheer number of these galaxies was far beyond predictions from observations made before Webb’s launch.

The team also has identified galaxies that existed during a time known as the Epoch of Reionization, when the universe underwent a transformation from opaque to transparent. Many of these galaxies shown unusually strong emission line signatures due to the creation of multitudes of hot, massive stars.

In this image, blue, green, and red were assigned to Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) data at 0.9, 1.15, and 1.5 microns; 2.0, 2.77, and 3.35 microns; and 3.56, 4.1, and 4.44 microns (F090W, F115W, and F150W; F200W, F277W, and F335M; and F356W, F410M, and F444W), respectively.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    03:32:36.89
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -27:46:49.33
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Fornax
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is about 6 arcminutes across

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    This image was created with Webb data from proposal: 1180 (D. Eisenstein)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    NIRCam
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    29 Sept. - 10 Oct. 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F090W, F115W, F150W, F200W, F277W, F335M, F356W, F410M, F444W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, GOODS-S
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Deep Field Survey
  • Release Date
    June 5, 2023
  • Science Release
    Early Universe Crackled With Bursts of Star Formation, Webb Shows
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Marcia Rieke (University of Arizona), Daniel Eisenstein (CfA); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

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Thousands of small galaxies are scattered on a black background. Some are noticeably spirals, either face-on or edge-on, while others are blobby ellipticals. Many are too small to discern any structure. A few spirals are bluish, but most of the galaxies appear yellow or red. A handful of stars display eight-point diffraction spikes.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam instrument. Several filters were used to sample wide wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are:   Blue: F090W + F115W + F150W Green: F200W + F277W + F335M Red: F356W + F410M + F444W

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

Thousands of small galaxies are scattered on a black background. Some are noticeably spirals, either face-on or edge-on, while others are blobby ellipticals. Many are too small to discern any structure. A few spirals are bluish, but most of the galaxies appear yellow or red. A handful of stars display eight-point diffraction spikes.

JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (NIRCam Compass Image)

This image of the GOODS-South field, captured by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference. The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east...

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Marcia Rieke (University of Arizona), Daniel Eisenstein (CfA)

Image Processing Credit

Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

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