Extinction in the Galaxy from Surface Brightnesses of ESO-LV Galaxies: Testing ''Standard'' Extinction Maps

The relative extinction in the Galaxy computed with new method by Chołoniewski and Valentijn is compared with three patterns: Schlegel, Finkbeiner and Davis, Burstein and Heiles and the cosecans law. It is shown that extinction of SFD is more reliable than that of BH since it stronger correlates with our new extinction. The smallest correlation coefficient was obtained for the cosecans law. Linear regression analysis show that SFD overestimate the extinction by a factor of 1.4. Our results clearly indicate that there is non-zero extinction at the Galactic South pole and that the extinction near the Galactic equator (|b|<40°) is significantly larger in the Southern than in the Northern hemisphere.