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Plotting the Roche Potential Surface of a Cataclysmic Binary Star System
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| Organization: | Wolfram Research, Inc. |
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0209-988
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2005-02-14
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The shape of any star is determined by the gravitational forces within its environment. A star that is unaffected by gravitational forces other than its own should be spherical, assuming that the star is not oblate due to rotational effects. The spherical nature of a lone star is due to the fact that all gravitational forces acting on the star are centrally directed and symmetric about all three axes. If a star, however, is in orbit around a companion star, the gravitational effects of that companion star play a role in the determination of the shape of the star in question.
Updated by Author 14 February 2005
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Roche, star, potential, gravitation and stars
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http://members.wri.com/jeffb/visualization/
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| roche.nb (275.6 KB) - Mathematica notebook |
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