A near-infrared stellar atlas of the Galactic plane from the VVVX survey
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Context . The VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea eXtended (VVVX) ESO public survey observed the Galactic plane and the outer Galactic bulge in the near-infrared to mitigate the effects of extinction that severely limit optical observations of these regions. By significantly expanding the area covered by the original VVV survey, VVVX enables a deeper and broader exploration of the most obscured and crowded regions of the Milky Way. Aims . We aim to extend and complete our photometric catalogs of the entire Galactic plane region accessible from the southern hemisphere, focusing on the areas newly covered by the VVVX survey. Methods . Building on previous work, we applied point-spread function fitting techniques to detect point sources and extract their deep J, H , and K s photometry across the VVVX footprint. The resulting catalogs were calibrated using astrometric and photometric reference data. Cross-matching between filters and epochs was used to ensure a high level of reliability and completeness. Results . We produce a deep, highly complete near-infrared catalog of more than 700 million sources in the Galactic plane and outer Galactic bulge. When combined with our previous VVV atlas, the full catalog includes over 1.5 billion sources. The derived density maps and color–magnitude diagrams enable detailed studies of Galactic structure, extinction, and stellar populations, and highlight features such as the Carina arm tangency, the Sagittarius stream, and numerous star clusters. Conclusions . This extended atlas provides an unprecedented view of the innermost regions of the Milky Way. It is now publicly available through the VISTA Science Archive, offering a valuable resource for the astronomical community to investigate the structure and evolution of the Galactic disk and bulge.
Source: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Institutions: Universidad de Antofagasta, Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Universidad Andrés Bello, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Vatican Observatory, University of Edinburgh, University of Valparaíso, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad Católica del Norte, European Southern Observatory, European Southern Observatory, University of Hertfordshire, Astronomical Observatory of Rome, National Institute for Astrophysics, University of Cambridge
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,865
Funders: Chinese Academy of Sciences South America Center for Astronomy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Centro de Astrofísica y Tecnologías Afines, Universidad Andrés Bello, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, Science and Technology Facilities Council
Awards: CONSTRAINING THE ORIGIN OF O-TYPE STARS THROUGH THEIR PROGENITOR IDENTIFICATION., INSTITUTO MILENIO DE ASTROFISICA, G1503830331, G1759365655, G1820675529, DECODING THE ACCRETION HISTORY OF THE MILKY WAY WITH THE (SIX) MILLION SPECTROSCOPIC STELLAR CENSUS OF SDSS-V, G2141439436, The Nature and Origins of Eruptive Variability in YSOs, G2808433674, CENTRO DE ASTROFISICA Y TECNOLOGIAS AFINES, REDISCOVERING THE MILKY WAY WITH THE VVVX NEAR-INFRARED SURVEY., G5403396360, G5461701949, G57481727, G6292078904, STELLAR ASTROPHYSICS IN THE GAIA-LSST ERA, G7610025757, UNVEILING THE HIDDEN GALACTIC PLANE A NEAR-INFRARED VIEW OF THE STELLAR POPULATIONS AND THE STAR CLUSTERS AT LOW-GALACTIC LATITUDES, G8461561985, CENTRO DE ASTROFISICA Y TECNOLOGIAS AFINES (CATA)
OpenAlex ID: W7123882026