The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

April 2023 • 2023PASP..135d8001R

Authors • Rigby, Jane • Perrin, Marshall • McElwain, Michael • Kimble, Randy • Friedman, Scott • Lallo, Matt • Doyon, René • Feinberg, Lee • Ferruit, Pierre • Glasse, Alistair • Rieke, Marcia • Rieke, George • Wright, Gillian • Willott, Chris • Colon, Knicole • Milam, Stefanie • Neff, Susan • Stark, Christopher • Valenti, Jeff • Abell, Jim • Abney, Faith • Abul-Huda, Yasin • Acton, D. Scott • Adams, Evan • Adler, David • Aguilar, Jonathan • Ahmed, Nasif • Albert, Loïc • Alberts, Stacey • Aldridge, David • Allen, Marsha • Altenburg, Martin • Álvarez-Márquez, Javier • Alves de Oliveira, Catarina • Andersen, Greg • Anderson, Harry • Anderson, Sara • Argyriou, Ioannis • Armstrong, Amber • Arribas, Santiago • Artigau, Etienne • Arvai, Amanda • Atkinson, Charles • Bacon, Gregory • Bair, Thomas • Banks, Kimberly • Barrientes, Jaclyn • Barringer, Bruce • Bartosik, Peter • Bast, William • Baudoz, Pierre • Beatty, Thomas • Bechtold, Katie • Beck, Tracy • Bergeron, Eddie • Bergkoetter, Matthew • Bhatawdekar, Rachana • Birkmann, Stephan • Blazek, Ronald • Blome, Claire • Boccaletti, Anthony • Böker, Torsten • Boia, John • Bonaventura, Nina • Bond, Nicholas • Bosley, Kari • Boucarut, Ray • Bourque, Matthew • Bouwman, Jeroen • Bower, Gary • Bowers, Charles • Boyer, Martha • Bradley, Larry • Brady, Greg • Braun, Hannah • Breda, David • Bresnahan, Pamela • Bright, Stacey • Britt, Christopher • Bromenschenkel, Asa • Brooks, Brian • Brooks, Keira • Brown, Bob • Brown, Matthew • Brown, Patricia • Bunker, Andy • Burger, Matthew • Bushouse, Howard • Cale, Steven • Cameron, Alex • Cameron, Peter • Canipe, Alicia • Caplinger, James • Caputo, Francis • Cara, Mihai • Carey, Larkin • Carniani, Stefano • Carrasquilla, Maria • Carruthers, Margaret • Case, Michael • Catherine, Riggs • Chance, Don • Chapman, George • Charlot, Stéphane • Charlow, Brian • Chayer, Pierre • Chen, Bin • Cherinka, Brian • Chichester, Sarah • Chilton, Zack • Chonis, Taylor • Clampin, Mark • Clark, Charles • Clark, Kerry • Coe, Dan • Coleman, Benee • Comber, Brian • Comeau, Tom • Connolly, Dennis • Cooper, James • Cooper, Rachel • Coppock, Eric • Correnti, Matteo • Cossou, Christophe • Coulais, Alain • Coyle, Laura • Cracraft, Misty • Curti, Mirko • Cuturic, Steven • Davis, Katherine • Davis, Michael • Dean, Bruce • DeLisa, Amy • deMeester, Wim • Dencheva, Nadia • Dencheva, Nadezhda • DePasquale, Joseph • Deschenes, Jeremy • Hunor Detre, Örs • Diaz, Rosa • Dicken, Dan • DiFelice, Audrey • Dillman, Matthew • Dixon, William • Doggett, Jesse • Donaldson, Tom • Douglas, Rob • DuPrie, Kimberly • Dupuis, Jean • Durning, John • Easmin, Nilufar • Eck, Weston • Edeani, Chinwe • Egami, Eiichi • Ehrenwinkler, Ralf • Eisenhamer, Jonathan • Eisenhower, Michael • Elie, Michelle • Elliott, James • Elliott, Kyle • Ellis, Tracy • Engesser, Michael • Espinoza, Nestor • Etienne, Odessa • Etxaluze, Mireya • Falini, Patrick • Feeney, Matthew • Ferry, Malcolm • Filippazzo, Joseph • Fincham, Brian • Fix, Mees • Flagey, Nicolas • Florian, Michael • Flynn, Jim • Fontanella, Erin • Ford, Terrance • Forshay, Peter • Fox, Ori • Franz, David • Fu, Henry • Fullerton, Alexander • Galkin, Sergey • Galyer, Anthony • García Marín, Macarena • Gardner, Jonathan P. • Gardner, Lisa • Garland, Dennis • Garrett, Bruce • Gasman, Danny • Gaspar, Andras • Gaudreau, Daniel • Gauthier, Peter • Geers, Vincent • Geithner, Paul • Gennaro, Mario • Giardino, Giovanna • Girard, Julien • Giuliano, Mark • Glassmire, Kirk • Glauser, Adrian • Glazer, Stuart • Godfrey, John • Golimowski, David • Gollnitz, David • Gong, Fan • Gonzaga, Shireen • Gordon, Michael • Gordon, Karl • Goudfrooij, Paul • Greene, Thomas • Greenhouse, Matthew • Grimaldi, Stefano • Groebner, Andrew • Grundy, Timothy • Guillard, Pierre • Gutman, Irvin • Ha, Kong Q. • Haderlein, Peter • Hagedorn, Andria • Hainline, Kevin • Haley, Craig • Hami, Maryam • Hamilton, Forrest • Hammel, Heidi • Hansen, Carl • Harkins, Tom • Harr, Michael • Hart, Jessica • Hart, Quyen • Hartig, George • Hashimoto, Ryan • Haskins, Sujee • Hathaway, William • Havey, Keith • Hayden, Brian • Hecht, Karen • Heller-Boyer, Chris • Henriques, Caroline • Henry, Alaina • Hermann, Karl • Hernandez, Scarlin • Hesman, Brigette • Hicks, Brian • Hilbert, Bryan • Hines, Dean • Hoffman, Melissa • Holfeltz, Sherie • Holler, Bryan J. • Hoppa, Jennifer • Hott, Kyle • Howard, Joseph M. • Howard, Rick • Hunter, Alexander • Hunter, David • Hurst, Brendan • Husemann, Bernd • Hustak, Leah • Ilinca Ignat, Luminita • Illingworth, Garth • Irish, Sandra • Jackson, Wallace • Jahromi, Amir • Jakobsen, Peter • James, LeAndrea • James, Bryan • Januszewski, William • Jenkins, Ann • Jirdeh, Hussein • Johnson, Phillip • Johnson, Timothy • Jones, Vicki • Jones, Ron • Jones, Danny • Jones, Olivia • Jordan, Ian • Jordan, Margaret • Jurczyk, Sarah • Jurling, Alden • Kaleida, Catherine • Kalmanson, Phillip • Kammerer, Jens • Kang, Huijo • Kao, Shaw-Hong • Karakla, Diane • Kavanagh, Patrick • Kelly, Doug • Kendrew, Sarah • Kennedy, Herbert • Kenny, Deborah • Keski-kuha, Ritva • Keyes, Charles • Kidwell, Richard • Kinzel, Wayne • Kirk, Jeff • Kirkpatrick, Mark • Kirshenblat, Danielle • Klaassen, Pamela • Knapp, Bryan • Knight, J. Scott • Knollenberg, Perry • Koehler, Robert • Koekemoer, Anton • Kovacs, Aiden • Kulp, Trey • Kumari, Nimisha • Kyprianou, Mark • La Massa, Stephanie • Labador, Aurora • Labiano, Alvaro • Lagage, Pierre-Olivier • Lajoie, Charles-Philippe • Lallo, Matthew • Lam, May • Lamb, Tracy • Lambros, Scott • Lampenfield, Richard • Langston, James • Larson, Kirsten • Law, David • Lawrence, Jon • Lee, David • Leisenring, Jarron • Lepo, Kelly • Leveille, Michael • Levenson, Nancy • Levine, Marie • Levy, Zena • Lewis, Dan • Lewis, Hannah • Libralato, Mattia • Lightsey, Paul • Link, Miranda • Liu, Lily • Lo, Amy • Lockwood, Alexandra • Logue, Ryan • Long, Chris • Long, Douglas • Loomis, Charles • Lopez-Caniego, Marcos • Lorenzo Alvarez, Jose • Love-Pruitt, Jennifer • Lucy, Adrian • Luetzgendorf, Nora • Maghami, Peiman • Maiolino, Roberto • Major, Melissa • Malla, Sunita • Malumuth, Eliot • Manjavacas, Elena • Mannfolk, Crystal • Marrione, Amanda • Marston, Anthony • Martel, André • Maschmann, Marc • Masci, Gregory • Masciarelli, Michaela • Maszkiewicz, Michael • Mather, John • McKenzie, Kenny • McLean, Brian • McMaster, Matthew • Melbourne, Katie • Meléndez, Marcio • Menzel, Michael • Merz, Kaiya • Meyett, Michele • Meza, Luis • Miskey, Cherie • Misselt, Karl • Moller, Christopher • Morrison, Jane • Morse, Ernie • Moseley, Harvey • Mosier, Gary • Mountain, Matt • Mueckay, Julio • Mueller, Michael • Mullally, Susan • Murphy, Jess • Murray, Katherine • Murray, Claire • Mustelier, David • Muzerolle, James • Mycroft, Matthew • Myers, Richard • Myrick, Kaila • Nanavati, Shashvat • Nance, Elizabeth • Nayak, Omnarayani • Naylor, Bret • Nelan, Edmund • Nickson, Bryony • Nielson, Alethea • Nieto-Santisteban, Maria • Nikolov, Nikolay • Noriega-Crespo, Alberto • O'Shaughnessy, Brian • O'Sullivan, Brian • Ochs, William • Ogle, Patrick • Oleszczuk, Brenda • Olmsted, Joseph • Osborne, Shannon • Ottens, Richard • Owens, Beverly • Pacifici, Camilla • Pagan, Alyssa • Page, James • Park, Sang • Parrish, Keith • Patapis, Polychronis • Paul, Lee • Pauly, Tyler • Pavlovsky, Cheryl • Pedder, Andrew • Peek, Matthew • Pena-Guerrero, Maria • Penanen, Konstantin • Perez, Yesenia • Perna, Michele • Perriello, Beth • Phillips, Kevin • Pietraszkiewicz, Martin • Pinaud, Jean-Paul • Pirzkal, Norbert • Pitman, Joseph • Piwowar, Aidan • Platais, Vera • Player, Danielle • Plesha, Rachel • Pollizi, Joe • Polster, Ethan • Pontoppidan, Klaus • Porterfield, Blair • Proffitt, Charles • Pueyo, Laurent • Pulliam, Christine • Quirt, Brian • Quispe Neira, Irma • Ramos Alarcon, Rafael • Ramsay, Leah • Rapp, Greg • Rapp, Robert • Rauscher, Bernard • Ravindranath, Swara • Rawle, Timothy • Regan, Michael • Reichard, Timothy A. • Reis, Carl • Ressler, Michael E. • Rest, Armin • Reynolds, Paul • Rhue, Timothy • Richon, Karen • Rickman, Emily • Ridgaway, Michael • Ritchie, Christine • Rix, Hans-Walter • Robberto, Massimo • Robinson, Gregory • Robinson, Michael • Robinson, Orion • Rock, Frank • Rodriguez, David • Rodriguez Del Pino, Bruno • Roellig, Thomas • Rohrbach, Scott • Roman, Anthony • Romelfanger, Fred • Rose, Perry • Roteliuk, Anthony • Roth, Marc • Rothwell, Braden • Rowlands, Neil • Roy, Arpita • Royer, Pierre • Royle, Patricia • Rui, Chunlei • Rumler, Peter • Runnels, Joel • Russ, Melissa • Rustamkulov, Zafar • Ryden, Grant • Ryer, Holly • Sabata, Modhumita • Sabatke, Derek • Sabbi, Elena • Samuelson, Bridget • Sapp, Benjamin • Sappington, Bradley • Sargent, B. • Sauer, Arne • Scheithauer, Silvia • Schlawin, Everett • Schlitz, Joseph • Schmitz, Tyler • Schneider, Analyn • Schreiber, Jürgen • Schulze, Vonessa • Schwab, Ryan • Scott, John • Sembach, Kenneth • Shanahan, Clare • Shaughnessy, Bryan • Shaw, Richard • Shawger, Nanci • Shay, Christopher • Sheehan, Evan • Shen, Sharon • Sherman, Allan • Shiao, Bernard • Shih, Hsin-Yi • Shivaei, Irene • Sienkiewicz, Matthew • Sing, David • Sirianni, Marco • Sivaramakrishnan, Anand • Skipper, Joy • Sloan, G. C. • Slocum, Christine • Slowinski, Steven • Smith, Erin • Smith, Eric • Smith, Denise • Smith, Corbett • Snyder, Gregory • Soh, Warren • Sohn, Sangmo Tony • Soto, Christian • Spencer, Richard • Stallcup, Scott • Stansberry, John • Starr, Carl • Starr, Elysia • Stewart, Alphonso • Stiavelli, Massimo • Straughn, Amber • Strickland, David • Stys, Jeff • Summers, Francis • Sun, Fengwu • Sunnquist, Ben • Swade, Daryl • Swam, Michael • Swaters, Robert • Swoish, Robby • Taylor, Joanna M. • Taylor, Rolanda • Te Plate, Maurice • Tea, Mason • Teague, Kelly • Telfer, Randal • Temim, Tea • Thatte, Deepashri • Thompson, Christopher • Thompson, Linda • Thomson, Shaun • Tikkanen, Tuomo • Tippet, William • Todd, Connor • Toolan, Sharon • Tran, Hien • Trejo, Edwin • Truong, Justin • Tsukamoto, Chris • Tustain, Samuel • Tyra, Harrison • Ubeda, Leonardo • Underwood, Kelli • Uzzo, Michael • Van Campen, Julie • Vandal, Thomas • Vandenbussche, Bart • Vila, Begoña • Volk, Kevin • Wahlgren, Glenn • Waldman, Mark • Walker, Chanda • Wander, Michel • Warfield, Christine • Warner, Gerald • Wasiak, Matthew • Watkins, Mitchell • Weaver, Andrew • Weilert, Mark • Weiser, Nick • Weiss, Ben • Weissman, Sarah • Welty, Alan • West, Garrett • Wheate, Lauren • Wheatley, Elizabeth • Wheeler, Thomas • White, Rick • Whiteaker, Kevin • Whitehouse, Paul • Whiteleather, Jennifer • Whitman, William • Williams, Christina • Willmer, Christopher • Willoughby, Scott • Wilson, Andrew • Wirth, Gregory • Wislowski, Emily • Wolf, Erin • Wolfe, David • Wolff, Schuyler • Workman, Bill • Wright, Ray • Wu, Carl • Wu, Rai • Wymer, Kristen • Yates, Kayla • Yeager, Christopher • Yeates, Jared • Yerger, Ethan • Yoon, Jinmi • Young, Alice • Yu, Susan • Zak, Dean • Zeidler, Peter • Zhou, Julia • Zielinski, Thomas • Zincke, Cristian • Zonak, Stephanie

Abstract • 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.

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Tom Greene

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Zafar Rustamkulov

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