AKARI, the first Japanese satellite dedicated to infrared astronomy, was launched on 2006 February 21, and started observations in May of the same year. AKARI has a 68.5 cm cooled telescope, together with two focal-plane instruments, which survey the sky in six wavelength bands from mid–to far-infrared. The instruments also have a capability for imaging and spectroscopy in the wavelength range 2-180$\mu$m in the pointed observation mode, occasionally inserted into a continuous survey operation. The in-orbit cryogen lifetime is expected to be one and a half years. The All-Sky Survey will cover more than 90% of the whole sky with a higher spatial resolution and a wider wavelength coverage than that of the previous IRAS all-sky survey. Point-source catalogues of the All-Sky Survey will be released to the astronomical community. Pointed observations will be used for deep surveys of selected sky areas and systematic observations of important astronomical targets. These will become an additional future heritage of this mission.

We present new ALMA observations and physical properties of a Lyman break galaxy at z = 7.15. Our target, B14-65666, has a bright ultra-violet (UV) absolute magnitude, MUV ≈ −22.4, and has been spectroscopically identified in Lyα with a small rest-frame equivalent width of ≈4 Å. A previous Hubble Space TElescope (HST) image has shown that the target is composed of two spatially separated clumps in the rest-frame UV. With ALMA, we have newly detected spatially resolved [O iii] 88 μm, [C ii] 158 μm, and their underlying dust continuum emission. In the whole system of B14-65666, the [O iii] and [C ii] lines have consistent redshifts of 7.1520 ± 0.0003, and the [O iii] luminosity, (34.4 ± 4.1) × 108 L⊙, is about three times higher than the [C ii] luminosity, (11.0 ± 1.4) × 108 L⊙. With our two continuum flux densities, the dust temperature is constrained to be Td ≈ 50–60 K under the assumption of a dust emissivity index of βd = 2.0–1.5, leading to a large total infrared luminosity of LTIR ≈ 1 × 1012 L⊙. Owing to our high spatial resolution data, we show that the [O iii] and [C ii] emission can be spatially decomposed into two clumps associated with the two rest-frame UV clumps whose spectra are kinematically separated by ≈200 km s−1. We also find these two clumps have comparable UV, infrared, [O iii], and [C ii] luminosities. Based on these results, we argue that B14-65666 is a starburst galaxy induced by a major merger. The merger interpretation is also supported by the large specific star formation rate (defined as the star formation rate per unit stellar mass), sSFR $= 260^{+119}_{-57}\:$Gyr−1, inferred from our SED fitting. Probably, a strong UV radiation field caused by intense star formation contributes to its high dust temperature and the [O iii]-to-[C ii] luminosity ratio.

We present the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array detection of the [O iii] 88 μm line and rest-frame 90 μm dust continuum emission in a Y-dropout Lyman break galaxy (LBG), MACS0416_Y1 lying behind the Frontier Field cluster MACS J0416.1−2403. This [O iii] detection confirms the LBG with a spectroscopic redshift of z = 8.3118 ± 0.0003, making this object one of the farthest galaxies ever identified spectroscopically. The observed 850 μm flux density of 137 ± 26 μJy corresponds to a de-lensed total infrared (IR) luminosity of if assuming a dust temperature of T _dust = 50 K and an emissivity index of β = 1.5, yielding a large dust mass of . The ultraviolet-to-far-IR spectral energy distribution modeling where the [O iii] emissivity model is incorporated suggests the presence of a young (τ _age ≈ 4 Myr), star-forming ( yr⁻¹), moderately metal-polluted (Z ≈ 0.2Z _⊙) stellar component with a mass of M _star = 3 × 10⁸ M _⊙. An analytic dust mass evolution model with a single episode of star formation does not reproduce the metallicity and dust mass in τ _age ≈ 4 Myr, suggesting a pre-existing evolved stellar component with M _star ∼ 3 × 10⁹ M _☉ and τ _age ∼ 0.3 Gyr as the origin of the dust mass.

Shining brightly in the early universe: Galaxies that formed early in the history of the universe were powerful sources of ultraviolet radiation. This radiation ionized the surrounding intergalactic medium during the “epoch of reionization.” Inoue et al. detected atomic emission lines from a galaxy at high redshift—seen as it was when the universe was only ~5% of its current age (see the Perspective by De Breuck). Data from optical, infrared, and submillimeter observatories determined its gas and dust content and the amount of ultraviolet radiation it emitted. Studying similar galaxies in such a manner will allow astronomers to determine how the first galaxies formed, evolved, and influenced their surroundings. Science , this issue p. 1559 ; see also p. 1520

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) is one of two focal-plane instruments on the AKARI satellite. FIS has four photometric bands at 65, 90, 140, and 160 $\mu \rm m$, and uses two kinds of array detectors. The FIS arrays and optics are designed to sweep the sky with high spatial resolution and redundancy. The actual scan width is more than eight arcminutes, and the pixel pitch matches the diffraction limit of the telescope. Derived point-spread functions (PSFs) from observations of asteroids are similar to those given by the optical model. Significant excesses, however, are clearly seen around tails of the PSFs, whose contributions are about 30% of the total power. All FIS functions are operating well in orbit, and the performance meets the laboratory characterizations, except for the two longer wavelength bands, which are not performing as well as characterized. Furthermore, the FIS has a spectroscopic capability using a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS). Because the FTS takes advantage of the optics and detectors of the photometer, it can simultaneously make a spectral map. This paper summarizes the in-flight technical and operational performance of the FIS.