AKARI Mid-Infrared All-sky Survey

Abstract

AKARI All‐sky Survey observations were carried out in the mid‐ to far‐infrared spectral region with six photometric bands during the cryogenic mission phase of AKARI from May 8, 2006 to August 26, 2007. This paper reports the mid‐infrared part of the AKARI all‐sky survey. It was carried out with two mid‐infrared broad bands centered at 9 and 18 μm. More than 90 percent of entire sky was observed by both bands during this period. The 5σ sensitivities for point sources are about 50 and 120 mJy, respectively. The spatial resolution is better than 10″ at both bands. The AKARI mid‐infrared survey achieved a deeper sensitivity and a finer spatial resolution than the previous IRAS survey, the AKARI mid‐infrared survey has the sensitivity to detect a debris disk of β Pic at a distance of 100 pc and several new debris disk candidates have already been discovered at 18 μm in a preliminary study, separately discussed by Fujiwara et al. (in this volume). More debris disk candidates are expected to be found in further investigations, which will make a significant impact on the statistical study of debris disks.