Fusion of JWST data - Demonstrating practical feasibility

Abstract

Data fusion is a computational process widely used in Earth observation to generate high-resolution hyperspectral data cubes with two spatial and one spectral dimensions. It merges data from instruments with complementary characteristics: one with low spatial but high spectral resolutions, and another with high spatial but low spectral resolutions. In astronomy, the use of such instrumental combinations is becoming increasingly common, making data fusion a promising approach for enhancing observational data. Until now, however, its application to astronomical data has remained unsuccessful. We present the first successful astronomical data fusion using JWST integral field spectroscopy with NIRSpec and imaging across 29 filters with NIRCam. Applied to observations of the d203-506 protoplanetary disk in Orion and of Titan, our method produces fused hyperspectral cubes with NIRCam spatial and NIRSpec spectral resolutions. These results pave the way for extracting the physical properties from JWST data with unprecedented spatial resolution and showcase the transformative potential of data fusion in astronomy.

Figures (9)

• Figure 1: Schematic illustration of astronomical data fusion. A high spatial resolution multispectral image (a) is fused with a high spatial resolution hyperspectral image (b) to produce a high spatial and spectral resolution hyperspectral cube (c). Credits: ESA/Hubble, NASA
• Figure 2: Selected JWST NIRCam images. a, Large field of view NIRCam image of the Orion Bar in the F210M filter. The red square denotes the field of view selected for the d203-506 protoplanetary disk. b, 1 x 1" images of the d203-506 protoplanetary disk observed by NIRCam filters F182M, F187N and F210M. c, 1.4 x 1.4" images of Titan observed by NIRCam filters F182M, F187N, F200W, F210M and F212N.
• Figure 3: Selected JWST NIRSpec IFU F170LP filter and G235H disperser data. a, d203-506 protoplanetary disk observed by NIRSpec at 1.982 and 2.122 $\mathrm{\mu m}$ and b, spectra from those NIRSpec observations at the positions (red and black points) shown in the images. c, Titan observed by NIRSpec at 1.982 and 2.069 $\mathrm{\mu m}$ and d, spectra from those NIRSpec observations at the positions (red and black points) shown in the images. In the plot of the spectra, the two vertical dotted lines indicate the wavelengths of the images. Original data from the MAST database are rotated, aligned and cropped (we refer to this as co-registration) as described in Appendix \ref{['sec:prepro']}.
• Figure 4: High resolution hyperspectral cubes resulting from JWST data fusion. a, d203-506 protoplanetary disk fused hyperspectral cube shown at 1.982 and 2.122 $\mathrm{\mu m}$ and b, spectra from this cube at the positions (red and black points) shown in the images. c, Titan fused hyperspectral cube shown at 1.982 and 2.069 $\mathrm{\mu m}$ and d, two spectra extracted from this cube at the positions (red and black points) shown in the images. In the plot of the spectra, the vertical dotted lines indicate the wavelengths of the images.
• Figure 5: NIRCam and NIRSpec throughputs available for a symmetric fusion. The throughputs are sorted on four categories (from top to bottom): NIRSpec high resolution disperser/filter combinations, NIRCam wide (W) filters, NIRCam medium (M) filters and NIRCam narrow (N) filters. The three wavelength gaps (1.40780 - 1.4858 $\mathrm{\mu m}$, 2.36067 - 2.49153 $\mathrm{\mu m}$ and 3.98276 - 4.20323 $\mathrm{\mu m}$) of NIRSpec IFU, where the information is only partial, are limited by the grey dashed lines. NIRCam filters covering those gaps are not displayed.