AbstractThe method developed and the instrument designed for detecting variations of the solar limb darkening at the atmospheric transparency window of the solar opacity minimum region of λ 1.65 µ are described. This differential technique proved to be successful in rejecting undesirable low frequency noises due to the atmosphere and to the instrument. Analysis of observations made in 1977, 1978, and 1981 indicates the persistance of global fluctuations of the IR differential, center-to-limb intensity at the wellknown 160 min period with an average amplitude of about ± 2 x 10-4 in units of the ‘average Sun’ intensity near 1.65 µm.
Solar limb darkening function and solar diameter with eclipse observations