1995A&A...300..109M

We present new measurements of the He abundance of the Galactic bulge based on IR photometry of several bulge fields. The fields cover a wide range of distances from the Galactic center, allowing the examination of the possible effects of disk contamination and the He gradient in the bulge. The results are: 1) the mean He abundance of the Galactic bulge is Y=0.28±0.02, 2) there is no significant He gradient in the bulge, and 3) the He content of the bulge is similar to that of the metal rich globular clusters. The measured He abundance is consistent with earlier findings that the Galactic bulge is more chemically evolved than the halo.