esoctio to appear in the proceedings of the 4th ESO/CTIO conference: The Galactic Center
X-Sun-Charset: US-ASCII


\title{Interstellar extinction in the vicinity of Galactic center thermal radio emission regions}

\author{Angela S. Cotera}
\affil{NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory 100-22, 4800 Oak Grove, Pasadena, CA 91109}
\author{Janet P. Simpson \altaffilmark{1}, Edwin F. Erickson,   
Sean W. J. Colgan \altaffilmark{1}}
\affil{NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035}

\author{Michael G. Burton}
\affil{University of New South Wales, School of Physics, P.O. Box 1,
2033 Kensington, NSW, Australia}

\altaffiltext{1}{The SETI Institute}
 

\begin{abstract}
Broad band J, H and K$^\prime$ and spectral \brg\ 2.166 \micron\ images have been obtained in four areas surrounding regions of thermal radio emission.  Localized variations in the extinction are examined by means of color and comparison of the observed \brg\ flux with the \brg\ emission predicted from radio continuum data. 
Results show few spatial variations and little correlation with the position of the radio emission features.