Discussion on:

3
Comments

Join the conversation!

Follow via:
RSS
0 Votes
+ -
Simple Answer
As I understand it, the sun has so much mass that the force of gravity was enough to cause fusion to start, which pushes back and balances it out, keeping the sun from collapsing further.

Wouldn't the forces of this interplay alone be enough to overwhelm the distorting effects of the sun's rotation? Couldn't it be that simple?
Posted by omb00900@...
30th Aug
0 Votes
+ -
Seems unlikely to me
They surely would have factored those forces into their calculations; and they act uniformly in all directions. What this suggests is that there some force which is not uniform acting in opposition to the horizontal expansion centrifugal force tends to produce.

My bet is on magnetism. Sunspots evidence a high level of magnetism - and they occur near the solar equator, not at the poles. It's theorized that this magnetism hinders the upwelling of hot gas from the core, making the sunspots cooler than the surrounding surface (which is why they appear darker). I would guess this also shrinks the solar equatorial region, counteracting centrifugal force.

It sounds good, anyway. happy
Posted by Greenknight_z
Updated - 31st Aug
0 Votes
+ -
The truth
They used better lenses than before.
Posted by Elrandy
30th Aug
Join the conversation
Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]

Join the SmartPlanet community and join the conversation! Signing up is fast and free. Don't wait -- we want to hear your opinion!