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

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 +/- 4.6 kJy/sr or 20.2 +/- 6.3 nW/m^2/sr at 2.2 microns is found. At 1.25 microns 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 +/- 6.8 kJy/sr or 28.9 +/- 16.3 nW/m^2/sr (1 sigma).