Our EBL value at 400 nm is ≳ 2 times as high as the integrated light of galaxies. As template for the scattered starlight, we make use of the spectra at two semitransparent positions. While the scattered starlight spectrum has the characteristic Fraunhofer lines and the discontinuity at 400 nm, typical of integrated light of galaxies, the EBL spectrum is a smooth one without these features.
The topic of this paper is the separation of the scattered starlight from the dark cloud itself which is the only remaining foreground component in this difference. A spectrum representing the difference between the opaque core of the cloud and several unobscured positions around the cloud was presented in Paper I. We have performed, with the ESO VLT/FORS, spectrophotometry of the surface brightness towards the high-galactic-latitude dark cloud Lynds 1642. In a project aimed at measuring the optical extragalactic background light (EBL), we are using the shadow of a dark cloud.