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oblateness

oblateness

9.9
A shape that is slightly flat at the poles and wider across the middle, like a planet
  • noun
  • /oʊˈbleɪtnəs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : oblaticidad
  • Moreover, he found a wholly unexpected result: the oblateness measurements implied that the core of the Sun rotates with a period of 12.4 days, about half of the surface rotation period.

Examples

  • The Sun's oblateness appears to be constant (SD) OCT 14.

    Academic text (2012)
  • Gradually, Dicke and his students gave up trying to measure the solar oblateness and concentrated instead on small, latitude-dependent temperature differences over the solar surface.

    Academic text (1994)
  • The most significant effect that GPS does not account for is a periodic frequency shift due to the Earth's oblateness.

    Academic text (1996)
  • The Earth's oblateness causes the orbital planes of satellites in low orbits to move gradually.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Then, some theorists suggested that a pole-equator temperature difference of only 30 degrees Kelvin could account for the apparent oblateness.

    Academic text (1994)
  • In different years, his derived oblateness seemed to vary: from 45 milli-arcseconds in 1966 to 18.3 in 1983 to a mere 5.6 in 1984.

    Academic text (1994)
  • But as we have seen, Dicke continued with his solar oblateness experiments into the mid-1980s, tenaciously investigating the puzzling effects he uncovered.

    Academic text (1994)
  • The rotation causes them to distort into flattened spheroids (for Saturn, this oblateness is noticeable in photographs).

    Academic text (1999)
  • The Earth's oblateness affects the way satellites orbit around it.

  • Scientists study the oblateness of various planets to understand their shapes better.

Synonyms

ellipticity
vsoblateness
  • Specialized
9.0

How flattened a round object like a planet or galaxy is

is about the actual squashed shape rather than the numeric degree

How Flattened

flatness
3 2.9
oblateness
  • Specialized
9.9
roundness
4 2.6
sphericity
  • Specialized
1 8.2

Surface Forms

oblateness singular
oblatenesses plural

Morphology

oblateness = oblate (transparent) = oblate + ness

A regular nominalization: the suffix '-ness' forms the noun denoting the quality of being 'oblate', so the meaning is directly predictable.

Etymology

The word oblateness comes from the parts ob- (meaning 'toward' or 'against') and Latin latus (meaning 'broad' or 'wide'), and it is the noun form of oblate. So oblateness describes being a bit 'flattened' at the poles and 'wider' around the middle, which is the same idea of 'wide' you see in latitude.