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Dicke and Goldenberg1measured 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 us2has 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. more...

In this article the author answers criticism, by Dicke and Goldenberg, on his theory of why the Sun is oblate.