MODEL ATMOSPHERE CALCULATION OF SOLAR OBLATENESS

Dicke and Goldenberg1 measured the difference between the polar and the equatorial flux coming from the limb of the Sun (ΔF), and inferred that the surface of equal potential at the limb is oblate by 35 km. The Sun thus has a quadrupole moment due to a rapidly rotating interior, producing a perihelion shift of Mercury of 3.4 s of arc century-1. Agreement between the value predicted by general relativity and the observed perihelion shift of Mercury is thus destroyed. One of us2 has criticized the Dicke and Goldenberg interpretation and has suggested that the flux difference is due to a stronger stabilization of convection, by rotation, at the pole. © 1969 Nature Publishing Group.