Near-infrared Observations of Iras Minisurvey Galaxies

Near-infrared photometry at /, H, and K has been obtained for 82 galaxies from the IRAS minisurvey, a sample of infrared-selected galaxies. The near-infrared colors of these galaxies are similar to those of normal field spiral galaxies, but cover a larger range inJ — H and H — K. There is evidence of a tighter correlation between the nearand far-infrared emission than exists between the far-infrared and the visible emission. These results suggest that hot-dust emission contributes to the 2.2 //m luminosity, and extinction by dust affects both the near-infrared colors and the visible luminosities. In addition, there is an indication that the far-infrared emission in many of the minisurvey galaxies is coming from a strong nuclear component.