The expansive collection of galaxies pictured here is MACS J0416, a galaxy cluster located about 4.3 billion light-years away. (Click the image for the full view!) MACS J0416 is one of five clusters targeted by the Canadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS). This survey takes advantage of the spacetime-bending abilities of massive galaxy clusters and uses JWST’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) and Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) to paint a detailed multi-wavelength portrait of galaxies in the early universe. Three of the CANUCS galaxy clusters, including MACS J0416, were investigated even more closely in the follow-up JWST in Technicolor program, which added precise spectroscopic redshifts and broadened the wavelength coverage of parallel fields of view. In a recent publication led by Ghassan Sarrouh (York University), the CANUCS team outlined the design of these programs and their data products, which enabled the study of roughly 53,000 galaxies within the galaxy cluster fields and an additional 44,000 galaxies in adjacent fields. To learn more about the CANUCS and JWST in Technicolor programs, be sure to check out the full research article linked below.
Citation
“CANUCS/Technicolor Data Release 1: Imaging, Photometry, Slit Spectroscopy, and Stellar Population Parameters,” Ghassan T. E. Sarrouh et al 2026 ApJS 282 3. doi:10.3847/1538-4365/ae1611