Correction of sunspot intensities for scattered light

Correction of sunspot intensities for scattered light usually involves fitting theoretical curves to observed aureoles (Zwaan, 1965; Staveland, 1970, 1972). In this paper we examine the inaccuracies in the determination of scattered light by this method. Earlier analyses are extended to examine uncertainties due to the choice of the expression for limb darkening. For the spread function, we consider Lorentzians and Gaussians for which analytic expressions for the aureole can be written down. Lorentzians lead to divergence and normalization difficulties, and should not be used in scattered light determinations. Gaussian functions are more suitable.