Brightness and Fluctuation of the Mid-Infrared Sky from AKARI Observations towards the North Ecliptic Pole

Understand

We present the smoothness of the mid-infrared sky from observations by the Japanese infrared astronomical satellite AKARI.

• AKARI monitored the north ecliptic pole (NEP) during its cold phase with nine wavebands covering from 2.4 to 24 micron, out of which six mid-infrared bands were used in this study.
• We applied power spectrum analysis to the images in order to search for the fluctuation of the sky brightness.
• Observed fluctuation is explained by fluctuation of photon noise, shot noise of faint sources, and Galactic cirrus.