The Infrared Astronomical Mission AKARI
Abstract
AKARI, the first Japanese satellite dedicated to infrared astronomy, was launched on 2006 February 21, and started observations in May of the same year. AKARI has a 68.5 cm cooled telescope, together with two focal-plane instruments, which survey the sky in six wavelength bands from the mid- to far-infrared. The instruments also have the capability for imaging and spectroscopy in the wavelength range 2 - 180 micron in the pointed observation mode, occasionally inserted into the continuous survey operation. The in-orbit cryogen lifetime is expected to be one and a half years. The All-Sky Survey will cover more than 90 percent of the whole sky with higher spatial resolution and wider wavelength coverage than that of the previous IRAS all-sky survey. Point source catalogues of the All-Sky Survey will be released to the astronomical community. The pointed observations will be used for deep surveys of selected sky areas and systematic observations of important astronomical targets. These will become an additional future heritage of this mission.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0708.1796,
title = {The Infrared Astronomical Mission AKARI},
author = {H. Murakami and H. Baba and P. Barthel and D. L. Clements and M. Cohen and Y. Doi and K. Enya and E. Figueredo and N. Fujishiro and H. Fujiwara and M. Fujiwara and P. Garcia-Lario and T. Goto and S. Hasegawa and Y. Hibi and T. Hirao and N. Hiromoto and S. S. Hong and K. Imai and M. Ishigaki and M. Ishiguro and D. Ishihara and Y. Ita and W. -S. Jeong and K. S. Jeong and H. Kaneda and H. Kataza and M. Kawada and T. Kawai and A. Kawamura and M. F. Kessler and Do Kester and T. Kii and D. C. Kim and W. Kim and H. Kobayashi and B. C. Koo and S. M. Kwon and H. M. Lee and R. Lorente and S. Makiuti and H. Matsuhara and T. Matsumoto and H. Matsuo and S. Matsuura and T. G. Mueller and N. Murakami and H. Nagata and T. Nakagawa and T. Naoi and M. Narita and M. Noda and S. H. Oh and A. Ohnishi and Y. Ohyama and Y. Okada and H. Okuda and S. Oliver and T. Onaka and T. Ootsubo and S. Oyabu and S. Pak and Y. S. Park and C. P. Pearson and M. Rowan-Robinson and T. Saito and I. Sakon and A. Salama and S. Sato and R. S. Savage and S. Serjeant and H. Shibai and M. Shirahata and J. J. Sohn and T. Suzuki and T. Takagi and H. Takahashi and T. Tanabe and T. T. Takeuchi and S. Takita and M. Thomson and K. Uemizu and M. Ueno and F. Usui and E. Verdugo and T. Wada and L. Wang and T. Watabe and H. Watarai and G. J. White and I. Yamamura and C. Yamauchi and A. Yasuda},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0708.1796},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
13 pages, 4 figures, and 3 tables. Accepted for publication in the AKARI special issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan