Why Are Stars And Planets Spherical?
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Why do all large celestial bodies take a spherical shape? Are there any large celestial bodies that are not spherical?
Celestial objects can take even bizarre and irregular shapes, as long as they are small enough. However, there is a limit, dictated by mass, beyond which every object tends to the spherical shape.
Above this limit, in fact, the force of gravity overcomes the cohesive force of the larger surface structures, and any significant prominence is drawn toward the center of gravity with enough force to destroy it.
As the mass increases, and with it the surface force of gravity, the shape of the celestial body, therefore, tends to be more and more spherical. Of course, there will always be small disuniformities because the sphere is a geometric abstraction.
But is that really all there is to it?
Let's find out together!
How many planets are there in the Universe? A lot. It is estimated about one sextillion. Do you know how much an octillion is? Quite a lot. A number so large (a billion trillion) that it is impossible to make a mental picture of it. Try looking at it this way, just to get an idea: the planet Earth weighs about an octillion times more than a walnut...
Yet all this infinity is made up of objects that have one thing in common: they are all spherical. There is not a single cuboid, dodecahedral, or heart-shaped one, to say.
But why?
First of all, it should be noted that we are talking about planets, not "celestial objects. "The word "celestial bodies" includes, in general, a myriad of objects with different characteristics and with shapes that, for various reasons, can also be very different from the spherical one. Consider, just as an example, our Galaxy, the Milky Way, which within a so-called "halo," consisting of stars distributed in a more or less spherical shape, possesses a disk-shaped structure rich in gas and stars.
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00:00 intro
4:55 How massive does an object have to be to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium?
6:45 Objects around 400 km in diameter
8:12 Objects with diameters around 1,000 km
#insanecuriosity #planets #celestialbodies