Observations of photospheric faculae at the center of the solar disk

Methods for the determination of the average optical depth of formation of weak Fraunhofer lines are compared, and their relative merits are discussed. Distinction should be made between the region of origin of the emergent radiation, and of the line depression. For weak or fairly weak lines the average optical depth of formation of the line depression is the relevant quantity; it should be determined by using a computational scheme based on the classical weighting functions of line formation; other methods give physically unsignificant or conflicting results.