J/AJ/168/166ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/168/166doi:10.26093/cds/vizier/be-58-56CDSHaggard Z.Ghez A.M.Sakai S.Gautam A.K.Do T.Lu J.R.Hosek M.,Morris M.R.Granados S.2026-07-02T11:44:54Z2025-06-04T10:45:57ZCDS support team

CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France

cds-question@unistra.frgalactic-centerextinctionapparent-magnitudetwo-color-diagramsinfrared-photometryThe Milky Way's central parsec is a highly extinguished region with a population of high-proper-motion stars. We have tracked 145 stars for ~10yr at wavelengths between 1 and 4um to analyze extinction effects in color-magnitude space. Approximately 30% of this sample dims and reddens over the course of years, likely from the motion of sources relative to an inhomogeneous screen of dust. We correct previous measurements of the intrinsic variability fraction for differential extinction effects, resulting in a reduced stellar variability fraction of 34%. The extinction variability subsample shows that the extinguishing material has subarcsecond scales, much smaller variations than previously reported. The observed extinction events imply a typical cross section of 500 au and a density of around 3x10^4^atoms/cm^3^ for the extinguishing material, which are consistent with measurements of filamentary dust and gas at the Galactic center. Furthermore, given that the stars showing extinction variability tend to be more highly reddened than the rest of the sample, the extinction changes are likely due to material localized to the Galactic center region. We estimate the relative extinction between 1 and 4um as A_H_:A_K'_:A_L'_=1.67+/-0.05:1:0.69+/-0.03. Our measurement of extinction at longer wavelengths --L'(3.8um)-- is inconsistent with recent estimations of the integrated extinction toward the central parsec. One interpretation of this difference is that the dust variations this experiment are sensitive to --which are local to the Galactic center-- are dominated by grains of larger radius than the foreground.2024AJ....168..166Hhttps://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/AJ/168/166CatalogResearchIsServedByTAP VizieR generic serviceIsServedByConesearch servicerelated-toJ/A+A/426/81 : Kinematic analysis of the Minispiral (Paumard+, 2004)J/A+A/433/117 : L- & M-band imaging of the Galactic Center (Viehmann+, 2005)J/ApJ/643/1011 : Early-type stars in the GC (Paumard+, 2006)J/ApJS/181/62 : Survey of young solar analogs (Metchev+, 2009)J/A+A/511/A18 : NIR observations of stars near SgrA* (Schoedel+, 2010)J/ApJ/718/810 : Astrometry & Photometry in Arches cluster (Stolte+, 2010)J/ApJ/737/73 : Infrared extinction toward the GC (Fritz+, 2011)J/ApJ/764/154 : Stellar populations in the central 0.5pc. I. (Do+, 2013)J/A+A/562/A125 : OGLE-III SMC mass. stars VI light curves (Kourniotis+, 2014)J/AJ/150/118 : YSOVAR IR photometry: IRAS 20050+2720 (Poppenhaeger+, 2015)J/AJ/150/132 : JHK photometry of 1203 variables in ONC (Rice+, 2015)J/A+A/592/A120 : Variable stars in NGC 6715 (Figuera Jaimes+, 2016)J/A+A/588/A128 : Variable stars in globular clusters (Figuera Jaimes+, 2016)J/ApJ/871/103 : Catalog of 563 stars in the Galactic Center (Gautam+, 2019)J/A+A/631/A20 : GALACTICNUCLEUS JHKs survey. II. (Nogueras-Lara+, 2019)J/ApJ/873/65 : Keck/NIRC2 obs. of the Galactic Center (Sakai+, 2019)J/MNRAS/488/1282 : Var. dust emission by WC type Wolf-Rayets (Williams, 2019)J/ApJ/964/164 : Binary star frac in GC: radial dependence (Gautam+, 2024)https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.htmlhttps://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/AJ/168/166https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/AJ/168/166http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/AJ/168/166https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/AJ/168/166https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/AJ/168/166http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/AJ/168/166GETtext/xml+votablehttps://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tapCone search capability for table J/AJ/168/166/varsam (Characteristics of the variability that are consistent (Table 2) or not consistent (Table B1) with changing extinction)https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/AJ/168/166/varsam?https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/AJ/168/166/varsam?http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/AJ/168/166/varsam?GETtext/xml+votable180.050000true266.4169483-29.00805670.005555555555555556Cone search capability for table J/AJ/168/166/tabled1 (L' photometry information and colors for all non-variable stars)https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/AJ/168/166/tabled1?https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/AJ/168/166/tabled1?http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/AJ/168/166/tabled1?GETtext/xml+votable180.050000true266.4168408-29.00786780.0055555555555555566/288304.838687303717424e-20 1.0217730580893467e-19https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/moc/J/AJ/168/166?format=asciiInfrareddefaultJ/AJ/168/166/varsamCharacteristics of the variability that are consistent (Table 2) or not consistent (Table B1) with changing extinctionrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintStarStellar identifiermeta.id;meta.maincharCEStar consistent ("yes"; Table 2) or not consistent ("no"; Table B1) with changing extinctionmeta.codecharKpmag[10/18.7] Mean K' band magnitude, <K'>magphot.mag;em.IR.KfloatdKpmag[0.2/1.6] Change in K' band magnitude, {Delta}K'magphot.mag;arith.diff;em.IR.KfloatKpChi2[3.7/265] Reduced {chi}^2^ variability metric; See Equation (1) in section 3stat.fit.chi2;em.IR.Kfloatdof[3/17] Degrees of freedom for (H-K') color measurementsstat.fit.dof;phot.color;em.IR.NIRintth(H-Kp)[41.3/148.2] Modeled slope in the CMD; {theta}_H-K'_degarith.grad;meta.modelled;em.IR.NIRfloate_th(H-Kp)[0.8/33.1] Modeled slope uncertainty; {theta}_H-K'_degstat.error;arith.grad;meta.modelledfloatH-Kp[1.1/3.5] Expected mean color <H-K'> derived from the slope fitsmagphot.color;em.IR.H;em.IR.KfloatP(H-Kp)[0/1] Probability of membership to the H-K' extinction Gaussianstat.probability;phot.color;em.IR.NIRfloatth(Kp-Lp)[57.7/87.5]? Modeled slope in the CMD; {theta}_K'-L'_ (only for Table 2)degarith.grad;meta.modelled;em.IR.NIRfloatnullablee_th(Kp-Lp)[1.8/9.5]? Modeled slope uncertainty; {theta}_K'-L'_ (only for Table 2)degstat.error;arith.grad;meta.modelledfloatnullableDipDipping ("yes"= 9 occurrences; only for Table 2) (1)meta.codecharG24Display data from Haggard+ 2024, J/ApJ/964/164 if anymeta.ref.urlintnullable_RAPosition from SIMBAD (right ascension part)degpos.eq.ra;meta.mainnullable_DEPosition from SIMBAD (declination part)degpos.eq.dec;meta.mainnullableSimbadNameSimbad column added by the CDSmeta.idcharnullableJ/AJ/168/166/tabled1L' photometry information and colors for all non-variable starsrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.meta.recordintStarStellar identifier (1)meta.id;meta.maincharLpmag[8.6/15.1] Mean apparent L' band magnitudemagphot.mag;em.IR.3-4umfloate_Lpmag[0.03/0.15] Uncertainty in L'magmagstat.error;phot.mag;em.IR.3-4umfloatH-Kp[1.71/3.2] Mean (H-K') colormagphot.color;em.IR.H;em.IR.Kfloate_H-Kp[0.05/0.19] Uncertainty in H-K'magstat.error;phot.color;em.IRfloatKp-Lp[0.85/2.5] Mean (K'-L') colormagphot.color;em.IR.K;em.IR.3-4umfloate_Kp-Lp[0.05/0.17] Uncertainty in K'-L'magstat.error;phot.color;em.IRfloatG24Display data from Haggard+ 2024, J/ApJ/964/164 if anymeta.ref.urlintnullable_RAPosition from SIMBAD (right ascension part)degpos.eq.ra;meta.mainnullable_DEPosition from SIMBAD (declination part)degpos.eq.dec;meta.mainnullableSimbadNameSimbad column added by the CDSmeta.idcharnullable