Maclaurin spheroid
E468354
A Maclaurin spheroid is an oblate, rotationally symmetric ellipsoidal figure used in astrophysics and geophysics to model the equilibrium shape of a uniformly rotating, self-gravitating fluid body.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Maclaurin spheroid canonical | 4 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4756607 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Maclaurin spheroid Context triple: [Jacobi ellipsoid, generalizes, Maclaurin spheroid]
-
A.
Jacobi ellipsoid
A Jacobi ellipsoid is a rotating, self-gravitating fluid body in equilibrium that takes on a triaxial ellipsoidal shape due to its rapid spin.
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B.
Airy Modified ellipsoid
The Airy Modified ellipsoid is a slightly adjusted version of the Airy ellipsoid used as the reference surface for mapping and geodetic calculations in systems such as the Irish grid reference system.
-
C.
Michell
Michell is a given name and surname that functions as a variant spelling of Mitchell.
-
D.
Einasto
Einasto is an Estonian surname most notably associated with astrophysicist Jaan Einasto, a pioneer in the study of dark matter and large-scale structure of the universe.
-
E.
Laplace resonance
Laplace resonance is a three-body orbital resonance in which the orbital periods of Jupiter’s moons Io, Europa, and Ganymede are linked in a precise 1:2:4 ratio, strongly affecting their dynamics and internal heating.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Maclaurin spheroid Target entity description: A Maclaurin spheroid is an oblate, rotationally symmetric ellipsoidal figure used in astrophysics and geophysics to model the equilibrium shape of a uniformly rotating, self-gravitating fluid body.
-
A.
Jacobi ellipsoid
A Jacobi ellipsoid is a rotating, self-gravitating fluid body in equilibrium that takes on a triaxial ellipsoidal shape due to its rapid spin.
-
B.
Airy Modified ellipsoid
The Airy Modified ellipsoid is a slightly adjusted version of the Airy ellipsoid used as the reference surface for mapping and geodetic calculations in systems such as the Irish grid reference system.
-
C.
Michell
Michell is a given name and surname that functions as a variant spelling of Mitchell.
-
D.
Einasto
Einasto is an Estonian surname most notably associated with astrophysicist Jaan Einasto, a pioneer in the study of dark matter and large-scale structure of the universe.
-
E.
Laplace resonance
Laplace resonance is a three-body orbital resonance in which the orbital periods of Jupiter’s moons Io, Europa, and Ganymede are linked in a precise 1:2:4 ratio, strongly affecting their dynamics and internal heating.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
astrophysical model
ⓘ
equilibrium figure ⓘ geophysical model ⓘ oblate spheroid ⓘ rotational ellipsoid ⓘ |
| assumes |
incompressible fluid
ⓘ
rigid-body rotation ⓘ uniform density ⓘ |
| belongsTo | theory of figures of equilibrium ⓘ |
| definedBy |
semi-major axis a
ⓘ
semi-minor axis c ⓘ |
| describedBy | Maclaurin’s formula for angular velocity vs eccentricity ⓘ |
| hasAxisRelation | a = b > c ⓘ |
| hasCoordinateSystem | spheroidal coordinates ⓘ |
| hasDimension | three-dimensional ⓘ |
| hasEccentricity | e = sqrt(1 - c^2/a^2) ⓘ |
| hasFlattening | f = (a - c)/a ⓘ |
| hasLimitingSequence | Jacobi sequence of triaxial ellipsoids ⓘ |
| hasParameter |
angular velocity
ⓘ
mass ⓘ mean density ⓘ |
| hasPotential | combined gravitational and centrifugal potential ⓘ |
| hasPotentialApplication |
gravitational field modeling of planets
ⓘ
internal structure inference of rotating bodies ⓘ |
| hasShape | oblate ellipsoid ⓘ |
| hasSymmetry |
axial symmetry
ⓘ
rotational symmetry ⓘ |
| inEquilibriumUnder |
centrifugal force
ⓘ
hydrostatic pressure ⓘ self-gravity ⓘ |
| models |
equilibrium shape of rotating planets
ⓘ
equilibrium shape of rotating stars ⓘ self-gravitating fluid body ⓘ uniformly rotating fluid body ⓘ |
| namedAfter | Colin Maclaurin ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Jacobi ellipsoid
ⓘ
Roche model ⓘ |
| satisfies | hydrostatic equilibrium ⓘ |
| specialCaseOf |
axisymmetric ellipsoid
ⓘ
equilibrium figure of rotating fluid ⓘ |
| usedIn |
astrophysics
ⓘ
geophysics ⓘ planetary science ⓘ stellar structure theory ⓘ |
| usedToApproximate |
shape of gas giant planets
ⓘ
shape of rapidly rotating stars ⓘ shape of rotating fluid planets ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Maclaurin spheroid Description of subject: A Maclaurin spheroid is an oblate, rotationally symmetric ellipsoidal figure used in astrophysics and geophysics to model the equilibrium shape of a uniformly rotating, self-gravitating fluid body.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.