Observation of the diffuse infrared radiation from our galaxy at 2.4μm

Infrared surface brightness of the Milky Way at 2.4 m observed in the region of 1 from 230 to 750 and the absolute value of b smaller than 200 with a balloon-borne infrared telescope cooled by liquid nitrogen. The surface brightness obtained shows a steep increase as the galactic longitude decreases. The flux at the galactic equator is as high as 6 x 10-10 sterad-1 μm-1 at 1=230 and decreases to 8 x 10-11 W cm-2 sterad-1 μm-1 at l=750. The galactic plane is as wide as 60 (FWHM) and nearly independent of galactic longitude. (auth.)