New near-infrared galaxy counts in the J and K bands are presented over a total area of 0.70 and 0.97 deg 2 , respectively. The limiting magnitudes of the deepest regions are 19.5 in J and 18.0 in K . At J > 16 and K > 15, our J - and K -band number counts agree well with existing surveys, provided that all data are corrected to a common magnitude scale. There are real differences from field to field, and the European Large-Area ISO Survey (ELAIS) N1 and N2 fields show an overdensity of J < 16, K < 15 galaxies. The slopes of log N ( m )/ dm are ~0.40-0.45 at 15 < K < 18 and 16 < J < 19.5. Our counts favor galaxy models with a high normalization of the local luminosity function and without strong evolution.
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Väisänen et al. (2000) studied this question.