JWST's mid-infrared instrument (MIRI) is less sensitive than the telescope's other instruments.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by JWST's own technical documentation (STScI) and multiple peer-reviewed papers showing MIRI has significantly lower point-source sensitivity than NIRCam/NIRSpec due to higher thermal background, dark current, and lower quantum efficiency. Practical consequence (shallower MIRI exposures in surveys) is also corroborated.
Sources
- A scientist looked at 'little red dots' in the early Universe and found a black hole that shouldn't exist | BBC Sky at Night Magazine (skyatnightmagazine.com)
- https://news.arizona.edu/news/monster-hiding-plain-sight-jwst-reveals-cosmic-shapeshifter-early-universe (news.arizona.edu)
- https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-mid-infrared-instrument (jwst-docs.stsci.edu)
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/1903.08169 (arxiv.org)
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/1404.0005 (arxiv.org)
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/1110.6202 (arxiv.org)
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0304226 (arxiv.org)