Advantages of the Akari Fir All-Sky Maps

Abstract

We present the AKARI far-infrared (FIR) all-sky maps and describe its characteristics, calibration accuracy and scientific capabilities. The AKARI FIR survey has covered 97% of the whole sky in four photometric bands, which cover continuously 50-180 micron with band central wavelengths of 65, 90, 140, and 160 microns. The data have been publicly released in 2014 with improved data quality that have been achieved since the last internal data release (Doi et al., 2012). The accuracy of the absolute intensity is ≤ 10% for the brighter regions. Quantitative analysis of the relative intensity accuracy and its dependence upon spatial scan numbers has been carried out.The data for the first time reveal the whole sky distribution of interstellar matter with arcminutescale spatial resolutions at the peak of dust continuum emission, enabling us to investigate large-scale distribution of interstellar medium in great detail. The filamentary structure covering the whole sky is well traced by the all-sky maps.We describe advantages of the AKARI FIR all-sky maps for the study of interstellar matter comparing to other observational data.