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D.C. Ebbets (Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp.)
Microscopic dust particles in our solar system produce a diffuse light that is present for all wavelengths accessible to the Next Generation Space Telescope. Many observations, especially imaging of the faintest sources, will be background limited, and in most cases the zodi will be the largest component. This paper summarizes the important phenomenology of the zodiacal light, and describes a simple model that computes the spectral radiance for any wavelength, towards any direction in the sky, and for an observer at any location within the solar system. Implications for choice of NGST orbit, preferred viewing directions, exposure times and limiting sensitivity will be presented.