Regulus

A fast spinning star, with noticeable gravity-darkening at the equator. Regulus is 77 light years from Earth, in the constellation Leo.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• regulus
• leo
• spin
• star
• gravity
• darkening
• orion's
• arm

[drtony999]

Isn't Regulus blue?

[kemmerer]

@drtony999

Yes it is. I've assumed that the band of gravity darkening would be cooler, and would appear yellower compared to the poles.

Perhaps a better way would be to show the poles bluer and the equator white, but that makes the equator appear brighter rather than dimmer.

[avgdvl]

This is just a 3D simulation from the software "Celestia".

All stars in Celestia have the same spot-texture, just the size and color are varying.

There's not much sense uploading it to youtube...

[kemmerer]

Yes and no; I added a mesh to make Regulus oblate, and made the equator cooler (more yellow) in accordance with its predicted appearance- so it is not quite a straightforward Celestia image. But it is reasonably straighforward, yes. Check my Dschubba and Betelgeuse videos for slighly more complex Celestia star models I've made.

[kemmerer]

The huge force is angular momentum, a result of this stars extremely rapid rotation.

Whay does it spin so fast? No-one really knows (though there are theories)

[sim5191]

is it me or is that star spinning so fast that it's oval?

[kemmerer]

Yes; several A and B class stars spin this fast. The equator of such stars is slightly cooler than the poles because it is further away from the core.

[vicmatic12]

Yea... its a FUNNY star :D

[Meowcow42]

READY?!?1?!

[SereneiBE]

stupidest looking star ever.

[chingchombuela]

are there any colonies nearby?

[poopoopaula101]

looks more like a slow spinning skinned potato :\

[grusel0204]

i thought vega was that flat...?

[shinykyogre301]

a cosmic egg?

[sunnyastronaut]

But i thought stars didn't spin around.

[NightFire2003]

wt?

a egg :D