The AKARI/IRC mid-infrared all-sky survey

Abstract

Context : AKARI is the first Japanese astronomical satellite dedicated to\ninfrar ed astronomy. One of the main purposes of AKARI is the all-sky survey\nperformed with six infrared bands between 9 and 200um during the period from\n2006 May 6 to\n 2007 August 28. In this paper, we present the mid-infrared part (9um and 18um\nb ands) of the survey carried out with one of the on-board instruments, the\nInfrar ed Camera (IRC). Aims : We present unprecedented observational results\nof the 9 and 18um AKARI al l-sky survey and detail the operation and data\nprocessing leading to the point s ource detection and measurements. Methods :\nThe raw data are processed to produce small images for every scan and point\nsources candidates, above the 5-sigma noise level per single scan, are der\nived. The celestial coordinates and fluxes of the events are determined\nstatisti cally and the reliability of their detections is secured through\nmultiple detect ions of the same source within milli-seconds, hours, and months\nfrom each other. Results : The sky coverage is more than 90% for both bands. A\ntotal of 877,091 s ources (851,189 for 9um, 195,893 for 18um) are confirmed and\nincluded in the cur rent release of the point source catalogue. The detection\nlimit for point source s is 50mJy and 90mJy for the 9um and 18um bands,\nrespectively. The position accu racy is estimated to be better than 2".\nUncertainties in the in-flight absolute flux calibration are estimated to be 3%\nfor the 9um band and 4% for the 18um ban d. The coordinates and fluxes of\ndetected sources in this survey are also compar ed with those of the IRAS\nsurvey and found to be statistically consistent.\n

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• University of California, Berkeley US
• Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica TW
• Nagoya University JP
• Institute of Space and Astronautical Science JP
• Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute KR
• Roma Tre University IT
• Max Planck Society DE
• Tokyo University of Science JP
• Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JP
• Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics DE
• The University of Tokyo JP
• European Space Astronomy Centre ES
• The University of Osaka JP
• National Astronomical Observatory of Japan JP
• National Institute for Astrophysics IT

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