Talk:gravity brightening

I don't think this should be a synonym of gravity darkening. The same phenomenon causes both, but they are different things happening at different points, right? Equinox ◑ 10:41, 30 December 2016 (UTC)

That's what I initially thought! But because it's not possible for one part to be brighter without the other part being darker than it (tautologically), in addition to the fact that the same physical phenomenon causes both changes in brightness, the sort of people who use these terms seem to use them interchangeably. For example, these books refer to things being brightened by gravity-darkening:

• 2009, Tammy Plotner, The Night Sky Companion: A Yearly Guide to Sky-Watching 2009 →ISBN:

  As a victim of gravity darkening, Regulus' poles are far hotter than its equator and 500% brighter.

• 2007, John R. Percy, Understanding Variable Stars →ISBN, page 116:

  The effect of gravity darkening is therefore to cause changes in the brightness of the stars outside eclipse. The top of the light curve is no longer flat, but is rounded. It is brighter between the eclipses then near them.

- -sche (discuss) 17:18, 24 March 2017 (UTC)