Near infrared survey of the central 12 square degree of the Galaxy

We obtained a near infrared survey of the Galactic center at H and K’ bands and detected a ring‐like structure of the obscuration surrounding the Galactic nucleus. The survey was performed by a special purpose infrared camera, which was mounted on the University Hawaii’s 61 cm telescope atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii in June 1991. We present an infrared color map of the Galactic center, which clearly shows the distribution of the dust clouds. Even in near infrared wavelengths, the Galactic plane suffers heavy extinction by a number of dark patches. The darklane of the Galactic disk spreads within 2 degree along the Galactic equator, and whose extinction is typically 14 mag at visible wavelength.