🚀 go-pugleaf

Jovian Sceptic wrote:

> I have two questions.  Are there any sizable stellar bodies that are not in a
> disc shape or evolving into this shape?

Yes.  Galaxys come in a variety of shapes.  Some
of the most massive galaxies are called "ellipticals".
They might have *some* flattening--but can be
anything from sherical to oval-shaped balls of
stars.  And there are "irregular" galaxies which
can be almost any shape--they are often the result
of multiple galaxies interacting with each other.

Also to note are globular clusters which are
generally spherical.


> Curiosity: what would happen if a galaxy spun at a large fraction of c at the
> outer edge?  (Assume there is a large enough core to hold the thing together.)
>  What would life be like in such a system?

I don't know--not sure I could look myself in
the mirror in such a system.  :)

Seriously, I don't think such a galaxy could exist.
It would tear itself apart.  Your "large enough
core" would have to be so large that it would
literally suck the entire galaxy into it--a massive
black hole.  And actually--you're getting into the
realm of how astronomers prove the existence
of neutron stars and (soon, maybe) black holes.
Because, basically, those are the only objects strong
enough to hold themselves together when spinning
at such speeds--for example, the Crab-Nebula pulsar
was the first nuetron star proven to exist, because
we had this incredibly small object spinning 30
times per second--which, by the way, is less than 1%
the speed of light.  Only a nuetron star could hold
together at that rate.  We have yet to "prove" the
existence of a black hole--though we have several
very good candidates.

Eric