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The dusty and molecular torus is an elusive structure surrounding supermassive black holes, yet its importance is unequivocal for understanding feedback and accretion mechanisms. The torus and accretion disk feed the inspiraling gas onto the active nucleus, launching outflows that fundamentally connect the active nucleus’s activity to the host galaxy. In this work, we utilize the aperture-masking interferometric mode onboard the JWST to achieve a resolution of 0.08\" at 4.3 μ m and bring out the fainter features in the central 10 pc of the Circinus galaxy. We show that most of the dust mass is located along the equatorial axis in the form of a 5 × 3 pc disk feeding the active nucleus. Only  < 1% of the dust emission arises from an arc structure composed of hot dust entrained in a molecular and ionized outflow, while the extended emission is associated with dust heated by the active galaxy at large scales. Active galactic nuclei are surrounded by a dusty and molecular disk that fuels supermassive black holes and connects them to their host galaxies. Here, the authors show with JWST interferometric observations that most of the dust in the Circinus galaxies lies in a compact disk, while only a tiny fraction traces hot outflowing material.

The James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (JWST-NIRISS) flies a 7-hole non-redundant mask (NRM), the first such interferometer in space, operating at 3–5 μ m wavelengths, and a bright limit of ≃4 mag in W2. We describe the NIRISS Aperture Masking Interferometry (AMI) mode to help potential observers understand its underlying principles, present some sample science cases, explain its operational observing strategies, indicate how AMI proposals can be developed with data simulations, and how AMI data can be analyzed. We also present key results from commissioning AMI. Since the allied Kernel Phase Imaging (KPI) technique benefits from AMI operational strategies, we also cover NIRISS KPI methods and analysis techniques, including a new user-friendly KPI pipeline. The NIRISS KPI bright limit is ≃8 W2 (4.6 μ m) magnitudes. AMI NRM and KPI achieve an inner working angle of ∼70 mas, which is well inside the ∼400 mas NIRCam inner working angle for its circular occulter coronagraphs at comparable wavelengths.

Kernel phase imaging (KPI) enables the direct detection of substellar companions and circumstellar dust close to and below the classical (Rayleigh) diffraction limit. The high-Strehl full pupil images provided by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) are ideal for application of the KPI technique. We present a kernel phase analysis of JWST NIRISS full pupil images taken during the instrument commissioning and compare the performance to closely related NIRISS aperture masking interferometry (AMI) observations. For this purpose, we develop and make publicly available the custom Kpi3Pipeline data reduction pipeline enabling the extraction of kernel phase observables from JWST images. The extracted observables are saved into a new and versatile kernel phase FITS file data exchange format. Furthermore, we present our new and publicly available fouriever toolkit which can be used to search for companions and derive detection limits from KPI, AMI, and long-baseline interferometry observations while accounting for correlated uncertainties in the model fitting process. Among the four KPI targets that were observed during NIRISS instrument commissioning, we discover a low-contrast (∼1:5) close-in (∼1 λ / D ) companion candidate around CPD-66 562 and a new high-contrast (∼1:170) detection separated by ∼1.5 λ / D from 2MASS J062802.01-663738.0. The 5 σ companion detection limits around the other two targets reach ∼6.5 mag at ∼200 mas and ∼7 mag at ∼400 mas. Comparing these limits to those obtained from the NIRISS AMI commissioning observations, we find that KPI and AMI perform similar in the same amount of observing time. Due to its 5.6 times higher throughput if compared to AMI, KPI is beneficial for observing faint targets and superior to AMI at separations ≳325 mas. At very small separations (≲100 mas) and between ∼250 and 325 mas, AMI slightly outperforms KPI which suffers from increased photon noise from the core and the first Airy ring of the point-spread function.

Kernel phase imaging (KPI) enables the direct detection of substellar companions and circumstellar dust close to and below the classical (Rayleigh) diffraction limit. The high-Strehl full pupil images provided by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) are ideal for application of the KPI technique. We present a kernel phase analysis of JWST NIRISS full pupil images taken during the instrument commissioning and compare the performance to closely related NIRISS aperture masking interferometry (AMI) observations. For this purpose, we develop and make publicly available the custom Kpi3Pipeline data reduction pipeline enabling the extraction of kernel phase observables from JWST images. The extracted observables are saved into a new and versatile kernel phase FITS file data exchange format. Furthermore, we present our new and publicly available fouriever toolkit which can be used to search for companions and derive detection limits from KPI, AMI, and long-baseline interferometry observations while accounting for correlated uncertainties in the model fitting process. Among the four KPI targets that were observed during NIRISS instrument commissioning, we discover a low-contrast (∼1:5) close-in (∼1 λ/D) companion candidate around CPD-66 562 and a new high-contrast (∼1:170) detection separated by ∼1.5 λ/D from 2MASS J062802.01-663738.0. The 5σ companion detection limits around the other two targets reach ∼6.5 mag at ∼200 mas and ∼7 mag at ∼400 mas. Comparing these limits to those obtained from the NIRISS AMI commissioning observations, we find that KPI and AMI perform similar in the same amount of observing time. Due to its 5.6 times higher throughput if compared to AMI, KPI is beneficial for observing faint targets and superior to AMI at separations ≳325 mas. At very small separations (≲100 mas) and between ∼250 and 325 mas, AMI slightly outperforms KPI which suffers from increased photon noise from the core and the first Airy ring of the point-spread function.

The James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (JWST-NIRISS) flies a 7-hole non-redundant mask (NRM), the first such interferometer in space, operating at 3–5 μm wavelengths, and a bright limit of ≃4 mag in W2. We describe the NIRISS Aperture Masking Interferometry (AMI) mode to help potential observers understand its underlying principles, present some sample science cases, explain its operational observing strategies, indicate how AMI proposals can be developed with data simulations, and how AMI data can be analyzed. We also present key results from commissioning AMI. Since the allied Kernel Phase Imaging (KPI) technique benefits from AMI operational strategies, we also cover NIRISS KPI methods and analysis techniques, including a new user-friendly KPI pipeline. The NIRISS KPI bright limit is ≃8 W2 (4.6 μm) magnitudes. AMI NRM and KPI achieve an inner working angle of ∼70 mas, which is well inside the ∼400 mas NIRCam inner working angle for its circular occulter coronagraphs at comparable wavelengths.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will allow observations with a unique combination of spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution for the study of outer planet satellites within our Solar System. We highlight the infrared spectroscopy of icy moons and temporal changes on geologically active satellites as two particularly valuable avenues of scientific inquiry. While some care must be taken to avoid saturation issues, JWST has observation modes that should provide excellent infrared data for such studies.

Damped Lyman-$\\alpha$ (DLA) and sub-DLA quasar absorption lines provide powerful probes of the evolution of metals, gas, and stars in galaxies. One major obstacle in trying to understand the evolution of DLAs and sub-DLAs has been the small number of metallicity measurements at $z<1.5$, an epoch spanning $\\sim 70$% of the cosmic history. In recent surveys with the Hubble Space Telescope and Multiple Mirror Telescope, we have doubled the DLA Zn sample at $z<1.5$. Combining our results with those at higher redshifts from the literature, we find that the global mean metallicity of DLAs does not rise to the Solar value at low redshifts. These surprising results appear to contradict the near-Solar mean metallicity observed for nearby ($z \\approx 0$) galaxies and the predictions of cosmic chemical evolution models based on the global star formation history. Finally, we discuss direct constraints on the star formation rates (SFRs) in the absorber galaxies from our deep Fabry-Perot Ly-$\\alpha$ imaging study and other emission-line studies in the literature. A large fraction of the observed heavy-element quasar absorbers at $0

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