Sequential Star-Formation and the Near-Infrared Stellar Populations within N159

We present the first results from a JWST/NIRCam study of the star-forming region N159, one of the richest H II complexes in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This region stretches over about 130 pc, and exemplifies large-scale sequential star formation. We present photometric results of > 300,000 point sources combining data from ten near-infrared JWST filters spanning 1-4.7 microns. We detect sources as faint as about 27 magnitudes at F115W, corresponding to stellar masses reaching below about 0.1 M. By constructing several color-magnitude and color-color diagrams, we separate young stars from main-sequence and older stars within N159, finding evidence for stellar populations younger than 0.5 Myr. Of the young population, we identify accreting, pre-main sequence stars from their Paschen- α (Pa α) excess and a population of sources bearing strong infrared (IR) excess, representing candidate young stellar objects (YSOs). Within this population, we identify a subpopulation of sources with H 2 O ice absorption. The IR-excess-bearing YSO candidates correlate spatially with dust filaments and molecular gas demonstrating their embedded state. The distribution of stellar and candidate YSO populations across N159 reveal more evolved star-forming populations in the N159E region and newer star formation in the N159W region, supporting the sequential star formation scenario for this region.