Observations in the IJK _ { s } wave bands covering the central 20 ^ { \prime } \times 20 ^ { \prime } of the Local Group galaxy NGC 6822 have been made with the William Herschel Telescope in La Palma .
They have allowed us to characterize , for the first time in the near–infrared across the whole galaxy , its late–type stellar population ( i.e .
red giant and asymptotic giant branch stars ) and to derive from the ratio between carbon–rich and oxygen–rich asymptotic giant branch stars an indication about spatial variations in metallicity .
These amount to about 1.56 dex , twice of what has been previously found within each Magellanic Cloud using the same technique .
We have calibrated our photometry on the DENIS ( I –band ) and 2MASS ( J and K _ { \mathrm { s } } bands ) data and obtained a distance modulus of ( m - M ) _ { 0 } = 23.34 \pm 0.12 from the position of the tip of the RGB .
The large scale distribution of late–type stars suggests that either the galaxy is viewed under a high inclination angle or it has a non–negligible thickness .
tars : late–type , AGB and post–AGB , distances – Galaxies : Local Group , irregular , abundances , Photometry : broad–band , IR