Near-IR photometry of C and AGB stars in NGC 6822

The number ratio of C stars to M-giants (C/M) is estimated as 0.27+/-0.03, while the northern part of the bar has a somewhat lower C/M ratio than the southern part. The (J-K) and (H-K) color distributions of AGB stars contain a main peak of M-giant stars and a red tail of C stars. The broad color distributions for M-giants indicate that NGC 6822 has a wide range of intermediate ages with a peak at log(t_yr_)~9.0.

The M_K_ luminosity function (LF) for C stars in the central bar of NGC 6822 is likely to be a Gaussian distribution, while the LF of C stars in the southern part is slightly skewed to the brighter side than in northern part. The mean bolometric magnitude of 141 C stars in NGC 6822 is <M_bol_>=-4.36+/-0.54. The bolometric LF for M-giants extends up to M_bol_=-6.5, while the one for C stars spans -5.8<M_bol_<-3.5.