Limb darkening
Okay kiddo, think about a round and shiny ball like a basketball. The ball is round and bright, and when you look at it, it looks the same brightness all over, right? Now, imagine you have a torch, and you shine the light on the ball. When you do this, the ball's brightness is a little brighter around the middle where the torch is aimed, and a little dimmer around the edges of the ball.
The same thing happens with stars like the Sun where the middle part is brighter, and the outer parts are dimmer. This difference in brightness is called limb darkening. Scientists study this to help them learn more about how stars work and what they're made of.
One reason why the edges of the Sun are dimmer is that the light has to travel through more of the Sun's atmosphere, which absorbs and scatters some of the light, so it appears dimmer. Another reason is that high-temperature areas on the surface of the Sun (called photosphere) are brighter, and cooler areas are dimmer.
So, limb darkening is just a fancy name for how the outer edges of a star look dimmer compared to the middle part. It's like when you shine a flashlight on your basketball or any round object, and the part near the edge is not as bright as the part in the middle.
The same thing happens with stars like the Sun where the middle part is brighter, and the outer parts are dimmer. This difference in brightness is called limb darkening. Scientists study this to help them learn more about how stars work and what they're made of.
One reason why the edges of the Sun are dimmer is that the light has to travel through more of the Sun's atmosphere, which absorbs and scatters some of the light, so it appears dimmer. Another reason is that high-temperature areas on the surface of the Sun (called photosphere) are brighter, and cooler areas are dimmer.
So, limb darkening is just a fancy name for how the outer edges of a star look dimmer compared to the middle part. It's like when you shine a flashlight on your basketball or any round object, and the part near the edge is not as bright as the part in the middle.