GALACTICNUCLEUS: JHKs imaging survey

Short readout times in combination with the speckle holography algorithm allowed us to produce final images with a stable, Gaussian PSF (point spread function) of 0.2" FWHM (full width at half maximum). Astrometric calibration is achieved via the VVV (VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea) survey and photometric calibration is based on the SIRIUS/IRSF (Infrared Survey Facility telescope) survey. The quality of the data is assessed by comparison between observations of the same field with different detectors of HAWK-I and at different times.

We reach 5{sigma} uncertainties are less than 0.05" at J<=20, H<=17, and Ks<=16. We can distinguish five stellar populations in the colour-magnitude diagrams; three of them appear to belong to foreground spiral arms, and the other two correspond to high- and low-extinction star groups at the Galactic Centre. We use our data to analyse the near-infrared extinction curve and find some evidence for a possible difference between the extinction index between J-H and H-Ks.

However, we conclude that it can be described very well by a power law with an index of JHKs=2.30+.-0.08. We do not find any evidence that this index depends on the position along the line of sight, or on the absolute value of the extinction. We produce extinction maps that show the clumpiness of the ISM (interstellar medium) at the Galactic Centre.

Finally, we estimate that the majority of the stars have solar or super-solar metallicity by comparing our extinction-corrected colour-magnitude diagrams with isochrones with different metallicities and a synthetic stellar model with a constant star formation.