Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS)

Mission Characteristics

Lifetime: 1983 (11 months)
Wavelength:
  • 12 µm
  • 25 µm
  • 60 µm
  • 100 µm
Area Coverage: 96% of the sky
Instruments:
  • Survey Array
  • Low Resolution Spectrometer (LRS)
  • Chopped Photometric Channel (CPC)
Science Products Generated:
  • Sky Survey Atlas
  • Improved Reprocessing of the IRAS Survey
  • Galaxy Atlas
  • Extended Galaxy Atlas
  • Mid-Infrared Galaxy Atlas
  • Faint Source Catalog
  • Point Source Catalog
  • Catalogued Galaxies and Quasars
  • Serendipitous Survey Catalog
  • Small Scale Structure Catalog
  • Asteroid & Comet Survey
  • Minor Planet Survey
Funding Agency: The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) was a joint project of the US, UK and the Netherlands.
Canonical Paper: Neugebauer et al. (1984)

IRSA Services

IRAS Catalog Search Access available IRAS catalogs.
Scanpi A tool for visualizing, plotting, and averaging calibrated IRAS survey scans.
HIRES HIRES is a powerful tool for studying morphology and for separating confused sources. It uses the Maximum Correlation Method to produce IRAS images with better than nominal resolution.
Dust Extinction Service An interactive service that uses the maps of Schlegel, Finkbeiner and Davis to return extinction along the line of sight through the Galaxy. Returns image cutouts, and supports upload of lists of sources.
Image Cutouts Service An interactive service that generates small "cutout" FITS (and JPEG) images from IRSA image collections.

Additional Data

IRAS Catalogs Search public IRAS catalog data, which includes access to PSC and FSC bulk downloads.
IRAS Sky Survey Atlas (ISSA) IRSA's DCE is a generic tool for performing cone or polygon searches to find overlapping images within a dataset (including ISSA), provide interactive visualizations of these images, and optionally, catalog overlays and downloads.
Improved Reprocessing of the IRAS Survey (IRIS) Use DCE to retrieve images from the IRIS
IRAS Galaxy Atlas (IGA) Use DCE to retrieve multiple images from the IGA covering a large area
Extended IRAS Galaxy Atlas (EIGA) Use DCE to retrieve images from the EIGA
Mid-Infrared Galaxy Atlas (MIGA) Use DCE to retrieve images from the MIGA

Other Resources:

IRAS Documentation IRAS web pages and Explanatory Supplements.