[neilep (OP)]

Dearest Smoothologists,






So here we go again with my second posting of this question before it went ' walkabout'




As a sheepy I of course have a very smooth bum. It's obvious...wooly hooved ruminant= smoothest bum ever. ...Blatant even !!


But then I thought..."what about a neutron star ?" so...I grabbed a taxi and went to see my mate Crouton the Neutron (he has a Futon ewe know ?)





Me Standing On Crouton, the Futon owning Neutron just Minutes ago !




So I wiped my bot bot on Crouton and he got upset because I didn't wipe from earlier !!  Sheesh !!...the nerve !....so...no luck there then !!




Is the surface of a Neutron star the smoothest thing ever in the Universe ?

....whajafink ?


Hugs et les shmishes




mwah mwah




Sheepy
xxxx


Kwik Kwiz !! Where does the phrase "Smooth with a capital 'Smoo" come from ?
No*Googling, even though I know you will.




*Other search engines are available like Lycos, Alta Vista, Infoseek and Webcrawler  lol

[Halc]

Depends on definitions.  The neutron star is not entirely spherical, and has mountains rising up a millimeter or two. It is also oblate (obleat?) due to its spin.

On the other hand, any local variation is going to fill in pretty much instantly due to gravity, so a given square meter of neutron star is about as smooth as can be.

Final note is that the material of the star is very tough and doesn't flow easily. Due to internal stresses, there are earthquakes of sorts and these leave cracks here and there, at least for some time. This can disrupt the pristine smoothness of the surface such that ye bum might still win.

[evan_au]

I expect the event horizon of a black hole is smoother, as it doesn't have the tiny mountains which form on the surface of a neutron star
- These hills form as the neutron star cools and shrinks, and also as it reduces its spin rate due to magnetic fields interacting with the environment.

Both a neutron star and an event horizon are oblate due to their spin.

...but then, the surface of a neutron star is a physical thing, while the Event Horizon of a black hole is a virtual boundary in spacetime, whose perceived location depends on your position and velocity.