  This paper addresses the nature of the near infrared background. We
investigate whether there is an excess background at 1.4 microns, what is the
source of the near infrared background and whether that background after the
subtraction of all known sources contains the signature of high redshift
objects (Z > 10). Based on NICMOS observations in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
and the Northern Hubble Deep Field we find that there is no excess in the
background at 1.4 microns and that the claimed excess is due to inaccurate
models of the zodiacal background. We find that the near infrared background is
now spatially resolved and is dominated by galaxies in the redshift range
between 0.5 and 1.5. We find no signature than can be attributed to high
redshift sources after subtraction of all known sources either in the residual
background or in the fluctuations of the residual background. We show that the
color of the fluctuations from both NICMOS and Spitzer observations are
consistent with low redshift objects and inconsistent with objects at redshifts
greater than 10. It is most likely that the residual fluctuation power after
source subtraction is due to the outer regions of low redshift galaxies that
are below the source detection limit and therefore not removed during the
source subtraction.
