Brightness and Polarization of the Zodiacal Light: Results of Fixed-Position Observations from Skylab

In an earlier paper Sparrow et al. (1976) found the polarized brightness of zodiacal light to have solar color at five sky positions for which there were fixed-position observations from Skylab: north celestial pole, south ecliptic pole, vernal equinox, and two places near the north galactic pole. The brightness and degree of polarization of zodiacal light at these sky positions are derived using Pioneer 10 observations of background starlight from beyond the asteroid belt (Weinberg et al., 1974; Schuerman et al., 1976) and the assumption that the zodiacal light is also solar color in total light.