The Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS) was selected as a Spitzer cycle 3 Legacy Science program. It combines imaging and spectroscopic data from NASA's Spitzer, Hubble, Chandra and GALEX space-borne observatories in a comprehensive study of the most luminous infrared-selected galaxies in the local Universe. GOALS is led by a large team of IPAC scientists, and related data products and tools are hosted at IRSA.

In a JWST/ERS program, four nearby LIRGs selected from the GOALS sample to have a range of properties, such as relative starburst and AGN power, merger stage, luminosity, infrared spectral slope, and optical depth, are being observed.

The LIRGs and ULIRGs targeted in GOALS span the full range of nuclear spectral types (type-1 and type-2 AGN, LINERs, and starbursts) and interaction stages (major mergers, minor mergers, and isolated galaxies). They provide an unbiased picture of the processes responsible for enhanced infrared emission in the local Universe, and are excellent analogs for infrared and sub-millimeter selected galaxies at high-redshift.