  Small-scale magnetic fields can be observed on the Sun in high resolution
G-band filtergrams as magnetic bright points (MBPs). We study Hinode/ Solar
Optical Telescope (SOT) longitude and latitude scans of the quiet solar surface
taken in the G-band in order to characterise the centre-to-limb dependence of
MBP properties (size and intensity). We find that the MBP's sizes increase and
their intensities decrease from the solar centre towards the limb. The size
distribution can be fitted using a log-normal function. The natural logartihm
of the mean (parameter \mu) of this function follows a second-order polynomial
and the generalised standard deviation (parameter \sigma) follows a
fourth-order polynomial or equally well (within statistical errors) a sine
function. The brightness decrease of the features is smaller than one would
expect from the normal solar centre-to-limb variation; that is to say, the
ratio of a MBP's brightness to the mean intensity of the image increases
towards the limb. The centre-to-limb variations of the intensities of the MBPs
and the quiet-Sun field can be fitted by a second order polynomial. The
detailed physical process that results in an increase of a MBP's brightness and
size from Sun centre to the limb is not yet understood and has to be studied in
more detail in the future.
