2603.04586Mar 4, 2026This is an arXiv-only document that describes the quick data releases from the NEXUS-JWST program through 2028. This document will be updated regularly to follow the cadenced observations from NEXUS (with a delay of ~2 months after each epoch). Data products are available at https://ariel.astro.illinois.edu/nexus/qdr/. Please send comments and suggestions to M. Zhuang and Y. Shen
NEXUS: Quick Release Notes
Ming-Yang Zhuang, Yue Shen, Junyao Li, Zhiwei Pan, Lei Hu, Adam J. Burgasser, David A. Coulter, Jenny E. Greene +1
NEXUS is a JWST Multi-Cycle (Cycles 3-5) GO Treasury imaging and spectroscopic survey around the North Ecliptic Pole during 2024-2028. It contains two overlapping tiers in depth and area coverage. The Wide tier (∼400arcmin2) performs NIRCam/WFSS 2.4-5 μm grism spectroscopy with three annual epochs over 3 years (final spectral continuum S/N/pixel>3
Nearby in the stack
at F444W
<22.2
), accompanied by NIRCam multi-band imaging in F090W, F115W, F150W, F200W, F356W and F444W. The Deep tier (
∼50arcmin2
) performs high-multiplexing NIRSpec 0.54-5.5
μ
m MOS/PRISM spectroscopy for 10,000 targets in total, over 18 epochs with a 2-month cadence, along with F200W+F444W NIRCam imaging for each epoch. Parallel imaging observations with MIRI and additional NIRCam filters are also performed within the Wide and Deep tiers. The primary data covering the Deep tier (including NIRCam imaging, NIRSpec/MSA spectra, and vetted MSA spectroscopic redshifts) are released in regular Quick Data Releases to facilitate follow-up studies. This evolving document describes the MSA targeting information and observing status for each of the 18 Deep epochs, which started in May 2025 and continue on the regular 2-month cadence. We also describe the content and caveats of the quick release data and report selected cases of diverse scientific interests.