DIRBE minus 2MASS: Confirming the Cosmic Infrared Background at 2.2 Microns

Stellar fluxes from the Two Micron All Sky Survey catalog are used to remove the contribution owing to Galactic stars from the intensity measured by the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment 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 ± 4.6 kJy sr-1 or 20.2 ± 6.3 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 cosmic infrared background of 12.0 ± 6.8 kJy sr-1 or 28.9 ± 16.3 nW m-2 sr-1 (1 σ).