[mesa-users] A common stellar-structure myth

[RICHARD H D TOWNSEND]

Hi Alex —

In the context of an entry-level astronomy textbook, I think ‘gravity’ is intended to reference acceleration (which students have every-day experience of) rather than potential (which they don’t).

Regarding pressures — as you can see from the plot below, the pressure at the center of the massive star is about 0.5 dex smaller than that at the center of the solar-mass star. So, comparing pressures doesn’t help here.

Rich

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