The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey - Infrared (NGVS-IR) program is a large campaign to conduct a deep and uniform near-IR imaging survey of the inner 4 deg2 in the Virgo galaxy cluster around M87 and M49 using the wide-field, near-IR cameras WIRCam on the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii telescope (CFHT) on Mauna Kea and the VIRCAM on the 4m ESO-VISTA telescope on Cerro Paranal in the Chilean Atacama desert.

Taking advantage of existing optical data from The Next Generation Virgo Survey (NGVS) of the same field, this survey will obtain deep near-IR photometry down to J ≈ 23.0 and Ks ≈ 23.0 AB mag for an unprecedented number of compact stellar systems, galaxies, and their stellar nuclei in a high-density, nearby galaxy cluster environment.

Among many possible studies one science goal of NGVS-IR is to determine the mass, age, and metallicity distribution functions of M87 and M49 GCs down to the GCLF turn-over magnitude and compare these with those of the outer/intergalactic GC population.

The observing strategy of the NGVS-IR survey is described here. The data quality is monitored here.

Please, contact Thomas H. Puzia, Ariane Lançon, or Roberto Muñoz for further information.