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The GALEX Zodi Light Calculator computes the GALEX background due to the zodiacal light (sunlight scattered off dust in the ecliptic plane). Since this background is scattered sunlight it, is much larger (~1000 times) in the NUV channel than the FUV. The magnitude of the background depends primarily on the geometry of the Sun, the target, and the ecliptic plane; it is therefore computed from a model as a function of target position and observation date. Other input parameters will not normally need to be changed. Output values are counts per second for the field defined by the Radius (FOV) parameter. The zodiacal light is important because it contributes to total field brightness, along with bright stars and diffuse galactic emission (cirrus). The total field brightness is rigorously constrained.
The model is from table 17 of Leinert et al. (1998), A&AS, 127, 1.
Please be patient after clicking "Request Data," as it may take a minute to compute the models.
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