Editing Spheroid (section)

===Oblate spheroids===
[[File:Jupiter_OPAL_2024.png|thumb|The planet [[Jupiter]] is a slight oblate spheroid with a [[flattening]] of 0.06487]]
The oblate spheroid is the approximate shape of rotating [[planet]]s and other [[astronomical object|celestial bodies]], including Earth, [[Saturn]], [[Jupiter]], and the quickly spinning star [[Altair]]. Saturn is the most oblate planet in the [[Solar System]], with a [[flattening]] of 0.09796.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spheroid - Explanation, Applications, Shape, Example and FAQs |url=https://www.vedantu.com/maths/spheroid |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=VEDANTU |language=en}}</ref> See [[planetary flattening]] and [[equatorial bulge]] for details.

[[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] scientist [[Isaac Newton]], working from [[Jean Richer]]'s pendulum experiments and [[Christiaan Huygens]]'s theories for their interpretation, reasoned that Jupiter and [[Earth]] are oblate spheroids owing to their [[centrifugal force]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RKXeEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA91 |title=Background to Discovery: Pacific Exploration from Dampier to Cook |date=1990 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-06208-5 |editor-last=Howse |editor-first=Derek |series= |location= |pages=91}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Greenburg|first=John L.|date=1995|title=Isaac Newton and the Problem of the Earth's Shape|journal=History of Exact Sciences|volume=49|issue=4|pages=371–391|publisher=Springer|doi=10.1007/BF00374704|jstor=41134011|s2cid=121268606}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Choi |first=Charles Q. |date=2007-04-12 |title=Strange but True: Earth Is Not Round |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-is-not-round/ |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=[[Scientific American]] |language=en}}</ref> Earth's diverse cartographic and geodetic systems are based on [[reference ellipsoid]]s, all of which are oblate.