Aspherical planets a possibility..?

[Jolanta Zofia Nowak]

Now that extrasolar planets are being detected...

I've read plenty of SF stories about weird and wonderful shapes for planets - we know that it's possible for gas giants to be less than perfect globes a la Saturn - but is it genuinely feasible for a rocky planet like the Earth (which itself is slightly oblate) to have genuinely striking assymmetry?

Gravitational theory would tend to dictate that such a form would tear itself apart, no..?

[zharca]

Hi, I think a big lens-shaped body would work if it had a *LOT* of spin. Lenticular vortices in gas or liquid are stable and so are very, very big ones (galaxies). Solids, even rock, eventually behave like fluids if you have planet-sizes chunks.

But I dunno if you could make it work as an orbiting planet because of the way spins and orbits are coupled (the Hamilton equations?) - this would be right off the scale! There might be somebody on the list who can do the math, it's beyond me.

[Jolanta Zofia Nowak]

Well thank you, someone, for a reply finally!

This thought still intrigues me so I'd be interested in anyone's views.