The HST/LCO measurement of the optical extragalactic background light

We present the first detection of the mean Aux of the optical extragalactic background light (EBL) at 3000, 5500, and 8000 Angstrom, derived from coordinated data sets from HST and Las Campanas Observatory. To isolate the extragalactic component, we have measured and subtracted the flux from foreground sources explicitly. In addition to detections in all three bands, we identify the minimum surface brightness contributed by resolved galaxies (23 < V < 28 AB mag) using a non-standard method of aperture photometry to which these data are uniquely suited. Individually resolved galaxies account for similar to 30% of the mean EEL coming from galaxies fainter than V = 23 AB mag. Taking into account the effective surface brightness detection limits of the deepest galaxy counts, and the results of LSB surveys at low redshift, the EEL we detect can be explained by galaxy populations already cataloged.