A Near-Infrared (JHK) Survey of the Vicinity of the HII region NGC 7538: Evidence for a Young Embedded Cluster

We describe the results of two near infrared (K-band) imaging surveys and a three color (JHK) survey of the vicinity of NGC 7538. The limiting magnitudes are K ≃ 16.5 and K ≃ 17.5 mag for the K-band surveys and K ≃ 15 mag for the JHK survey. We identify more than 2000 and 9000 near-infrared (NIR) sources on the images of the two Observations reported here were obtained at the MMT Observatory, a joint facility of the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Arizona. former pre-doctoral fellow at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Gardner St. Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Visiting Astronomer, Kitt Peak National Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.