The Roundest Object Ever Discovered is a New Star

Scientists have discovered the roundest object ever seen.

The idea that planets or stars like the Earth and the Sun are perfectly round is a common misconception. They tend to appear round from most perspectives, however, a close analysis revealed that the Earth is flatter at the poles than at the equator. Now, scientists claim to have identified the roundest object ever discovered in space.

The roundness of a cosmic object is not the first thing scientists look at when a new one is discovered. Nonetheless, they claim that a star, located 5,000 light-years away from Earth, is the closest thing to a perfect sphere they have ever seen. Most objects are bulged at the equator because of the centrifugal force and the fast they spin around their own axis the bigger the bulge.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research discovered the star known as Kepler 11145123. They studied the star’s natural oscillations using NASA’s Kepler Space telescope over an extensive period of 51 months, from 2009 to 2013.

Laurent Gizon, working for both the Planck Institute and the University of Gottingen in Germany, together with his team of researchers, managed to use the data provided by telescope through their relentless observations, to calculate the size of the star. They used a technique known as asteroseismology which allows astronomers to probe the inside layers of stars similar to how geologists use quakes to study the planet’s insides.

After an extensive study, they determined that the difference between the equatorial and polar diameter of the star is only 3.7 miles. This is very surprising result considering that the star is twice as wide as our sun, having a diameter of 1.86 million miles. The star compensates its size by rotating three times more slowly than the sun. Additionally , the magnetic environment of the star is also what contributes to its status as the roundest object ever discovered in the universe.

Scientists aren’t certain that the star will be able to keep its shape forever. They plan to continue studying even more cosmic objects using the same technique. In order to learn more about how the rotation and magnetic fields of a planet or star affects its shape.

Image credit: Laurent Gizon et al. and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany. Illustration by Mark A. Garlick.

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Nancy Young

When I was younger I used to spend almost all of my free time playing computer games. My mom and dad would go mental over this. “You’re never going to do anything with your life if you are going to play games all day” they used to say. What was even more unusual was the fact that I played more games than most of the guys in my friend group. Looking back, I have to admit that I probably played a bit too much, but I also learned a lot of great things. When I turned 20 I decided that it was high-time to make some money of my own, but the only jobs I could get were that of waitress or cashier. How exciting. After several excruciating months of serving tables I had a great idea: since I love gaming so much, why don’t I write about it? That’s when I started doing small writing projects on Elance. Eventually, I got an offer for a part-time job. During that time I learned all about content marketing strategies and how search engines work. I started writing about various topics such as technology, health and lifestyle and discovered that I was actually good at it. On November 24, 2014, I became part of the ArgyllFreePress team.