A 2-MICRON GALACTIC SURVEY

The first results are presented here of the Two-Micron Galactic Survey (TMGS). The TMGS is the most sensitive near-infrared survey of the Ga lactic plane yet attempted on a large scale. The Galactic plane has be en drift-scanned in several regions over the areas -5-degrees < l < 30 -degrees, Absolute value of b less-than-or-equal-to 15-degrees and 30- degrees < l < 180-degrees, Absolute value of b less-than-or-equal-to 5 -degrees. The discussion in this paper concentrates mainly on three ex tensively mapped areas centred on delta = -1-degrees, -23-degrees and -30-degrees, covering a total of 138 deg2 of sky. The survey is comple te in the areas covered to magnitude m(K) congruent-to +9.8 mag. So fa r, a total area of 255 deg2 has been mapped and 470 000 objects have b een detected, the majority of these in the Galactic plane and with no known visible counterparts. About 90 per cent of IRAS point sources in the regions covered have been cross-correlated with our survey. The T MGS is detecting stars deep inside the bulge and has found extensive r egions of exceptionally high extinction in the plane.