AKARI (Previously known as ASTRO-F or IRIS - InfraRed Imaging Surveyor) is the second space mission for infrared astronomy in Japan. AKARI has been developed by members of JAXA/ISAS and collaborators. IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite, launched in 1983 by the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Netherlands) carried out the first all-sky survey at infrared wavelengths and made a huge impact on astronomy. The AKARI mission is an ambitious plan to make an all-sky survey with much better sensitivity, spatial resolution and wider wavelength coverage than IRAS. AKARI has a 68.5cm telescope cooled down to 6K, and will observe in the wavelength range from 1.7 (near-infrared) to 180 (far-infrared) micron. AKARI was successfully launched into space by a M-V rocket. AKARI has been placed in a sun-synchronous polar orbit of about 700 km.

AKARI finishes its cool observations (August 28, 2007)

AKARI Conference 2009