The $AKARI$ Far-Infrared All-Sky Survey Maps

TL;DR

The paper introduces a comprehensive far-infrared all-sky map from the AKARI satellite, covering over 99% of the sky in four bands, enabling detailed study of interstellar dust and cirrus structures.

Contribution

It presents the first public release of high-resolution, multi-band all-sky far-infrared maps from AKARI, improving spatial resolution over previous surveys.

Findings

Maps cover >99% of the sky in four bands

Enhanced spatial resolution reveals detailed ISM structures

Data set serves as a legacy resource for astronomy

Abstract

We present a far-infrared all-sky atlas from a sensitive all-sky survey using the Japanese $AKARI$ satellite. The survey covers $> 99$% of the sky in four photometric bands centred at 65 $\mu$m, 90 $\mu$m, 140 $\mu$m, and 160 $\mu$m with spatial resolutions ranging from 1 to 1.5 arcmin. These data provide crucial information for the investigation and characterisation of the properties of dusty material in the Interstellar Medium (ISM), since significant portion of its energy is emitted between $\sim$50 and 200 $\mu$m. The large-scale distribution of interstellar clouds, their thermal dust temperatures and column densities, can be investigated with the improved spatial resolution compared to earlier all-sky survey observations. In addition to the point source distribution, the large-scale distribution of ISM cirrus emission, and its filamentary structure, are well traced. We have made the first public release of the full-sky data to provide a legacy data set for use by the astronomical community.