UKIRT extinction & reddening map in Gal. bulge

Studies toward the Galactic bulge are complicated by the large and variable extinction along the line of sight. We measure the near-infrared A_KS_ extinction and E(H-K_S_) reddening in this region using H- and K-band photometry obtained with the 2017 UKIRT microlensing survey.

We fit the apparent magnitude and color distribution of bright giants in the bulge to recover the apparent magnitude and color of Red Clump stars, which are known to be standard candles and crayons. We present 2'x2' resolution maps in UKIRT fields between -2.15{deg}<=l<=2.71{deg} and -2.69{deg}<=b<=2.03{deg} of the A_KS_ extinction and the E(H-K_S_) reddening. We find large variations in the KS-band extinction and E(H-K_S_) reddening on all the scales we probe.