Portion of Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey (NIRCam compass image)

This is a portion of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, made up of several near-infrared pointings from NIRCam (the Near-Infrared Camera) aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. These observations are within the same region studied by the Hubble Space Telescope, which is known as the Extended Groth Strip.

The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).

This image shows invisible near-infrared wavelengths of light that have been translated into visible-light colours. The colour key shows which NIRCam filters were used when collecting the light. The color of each filter name is the visible light colour used to represent the infrared light that passes through that filter.

The scale bar is labelled in arcseconds, which is a measure of angular distance on the sky. One arcsecond is equal to an angular measurement of 1/3600 of one degree. There are 60 arcminutes in a degree and 60 arcseconds in an arcminute. (The full Moon has an angular diameter of about 30 arcminutes.) The actual size of an object that covers one arcsecond on the sky depends on its distance from the telescope.

[Image description: Image shows a portion of the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey with compass arrows and colour key. In the centre is a near-infrared image of a field of galaxies and stars. At the top right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 8 o’clock. The north arrow points in the 11 o’clock direction. At the bottom right is a scale bar labelled 40 arcseconds. The length of the scale bar is about one eighth of the total image. Below the image is a colour key showing which NIRCam filters were used to create the image and which visible-light colour is assigned to each filter. NIRCam filters from left to right: F115W and F150W are blue; F200W and F277W are green; F356W and F444W are red.]