Tucson Standard

The competition for observing time with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is intense, with only one out of every nine applications being accepted for the latest observation cycle. The Space Telescope Science Institute has approved two types of programs: primary observation time and parallel observation time. Researchers from the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory secured 8% of the primary observation time and 70% of the total parallel observation time for JWST Cycle 3, marking a significant achievement.

Cycle 3 begins on July 1 and will last one year. Among the successful applicants is Maria Pudoka, a graduate student at Steward Observatory. Her project focuses on high redshift quasars, which are massive black holes that formed shortly after the Big Bang. Pudoka aims to study a quasar with a redshift of 7.5, corresponding to a distance of 13.01 billion light-years.

"Steward Observatory has succeeded in maintaining this positive cycle," said UArizona research professor Eiichi Egami. He will lead a program using parallel observation time to gather data on distant luminous objects across a larger area than possible with primary observation time alone.

Egami's SAPPHIRES program will use NIRCam to collect spectra for numerous galaxies simultaneously, aiming to explain surprises from earlier JWST observations regarding galaxy formation and evolution.

Another major project is COSMOS-3D, led by Regents' Professor Xiaohui Fan and his team at Steward Observatory. This program will map one large area of the sky in detail to understand early supermassive black hole growth and cosmic web emergence.

Additionally, NASA Sagan Fellow Megan Weiner Mansfield will lead two programs studying exoplanets with atmospheres made of vaporized rock. She emphasizes collaboration between geologists and astronomers to better understand planetary surfaces and atmospheres.

Weiner Mansfield's work could pave the way for future missions like NASA's Habitable Earths Observatory by identifying exoplanets with potentially habitable atmospheres.