PDRs4all: NIRSpec simulation of integral field unit spectroscopy of the Orion Bar photodissociation region

TL;DR

This paper presents a simulation of JWST NIRSpec integral field spectroscopy of the Orion Bar, providing a publicly available data cube to aid future observational proposals and analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a forward modeling approach for NIRSpec observations of the Orion Bar, producing a synthetic data cube compatible with JWST pipelines and tools.

Findings

Generated a 3D spectral data cube for the Orion Bar

Data cube is publicly available for future research and proposal planning

Demonstrates the simulation methodology for JWST NIRSpec observations

Abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched on December 25, 2021. This document presents a simulation of the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) observations of the Orion Bar which will be performed as part of the Early Release Sciences (ERS) program "PDRs4all". The methodology to produce this data relies on the use of a direct forward model of the instrument applied to a synthetic scene of the Orion Bar, coupled to format matching in order to deliver data in JWST-pipeline data format. The resulting 3D cube for one order is provided publicly, and is compatible with tools developed by the STScI (e.g. Cubeviz) and with the science enabling products developed by thePDRs4all team. This cube can be used as a template observation for proposers who would like to apply for NIRSpec observations of extended sources with JWST.