
The math of why it’s so hard to build a spherical Death Star in space (2018) - Tomte
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/the-math-of-why-its-so-hard-to-build-a-spherical-death-star-in-space/
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Causality1
>The Death Star was constructed in space, a realm where massive things (moons,
planets) tend to take on a spherical shape due to gravity. But when Orlin did
the calculations, he found that the size at which objects take on the shape of
a sphere is about 400 kilometers in diameter, which is significantly larger
than the ~160km Death Star.That's why Orlin's hypothetical Imperial team
physicist keeps insisting the Death Star should be more lumpy, shaped like an
asteroid. Orlin's conclusion: "The Death Star is not nearly big enough. But
maybe Imperial steel is very, very dense and thus goes spherical much faster."

So the death star isn't big enough to collapse into a sphere by itself, except
that's totally irrelevant because it's an artificial construct and not a
natural object. The author of this book cannot possibly be as much of an idiot
as the article is making him sound.

