Comparison between the stellar density map of the central 58 pc × 16 pc of the Galaxy and the symmetrized images. Upper: extinction-corrected density map for stars with 9.0 ≤ K_s, extc ≤ 12. The mask applied is shown (dark regions). Middle: symmetrized image is obtained from taking the median of the pixels from the four quadrants by assuming symmetry of the cluster with respect to the GP and with respect to the Galactic north–south axis through Sgr A*. Lower: symmetrized image obtained by assuming symmetry of the cluster with respect to tilted axes through Sgr A* with an angle of ∼ − 5.6°. The three panels use the same color scale. Galactic north is up and Galactic east is to the left.