DIRBE Minus 2 MASS : Confirming the Cosmic Infrared Background at 2 . 2 Microns Edward

Stellar fluxes from the 2MASS catalog are used to remove the contribution due to Galactic stars from the intensity measured by DIRBE in four regions in the North and South Galactic polar caps. After subtracting the interplanetary and Galactic foregrounds, a consistent residual intensity of 14.8 ± 4.1 kJy sr −1 or 20.2 ± 5.6 nW m −2 sr −1 at 2.2 µm is found. At 1.25 µm the residuals show more scatter and are a much smaller fraction of the foreground, leading to a weak limit on the CIRB of 12.0 ± 6.3 kJy sr −1 or 28.9 ± 15 nW m −2 sr −1 (1 σ).