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Astronomy and Cosmology
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Detecting Unusual Stellar Shapes: Looking for Perturbed Planets
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[QUOTE="Simon Bridge, post: 5480095, member: 367532"] The star is usually not assumed to be a [I]perfect[/I] sphere ... the shape of stars is determined by physics that are well known. Most stars would be oblate due to their rotation ... but only slightly so a sphere is a very good approximation - especially considering the distances involved. We can be sure of this for distant stars the same way we can be sure of anything - we check for nearby stars, and assume that the laws of physics are pretty much the same everywhere. However the shape of the star is not important for detecting bodies orbiting it. [URL]http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/exoplanets/how-to-search-for-exoplanets.html?referrer=https://www.google.co.nz/[/URL] You can have a go working out how far off spherical the star would have to be to give it the appearance of the kinds of wobbles measured. [/QUOTE]
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Astronomy and Cosmology
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Detecting Unusual Stellar Shapes: Looking for Perturbed Planets
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