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"We achieved a remarkable milestone in the deep ultraviolet range, where we set a new record for ellipticity," Doumani said.

Studies of known pulsars—fast-spinning neutron stars that emit lighthouselike beams of radiation—have already placed limits on ellipticity about 1,000 times better than those from this study, he says.

They focused on two factors: the asymmetry and ellipticity—or ovalness—of an egg.

“Perhaps, evolutionarily, birds stumbled upon this very natural, geometric solution, which is to increase the ellipticity and asymmetry of their eggs,” Dr. Mahadevan said, since doing so allows for greater volume without increasing girth.

Latitude and time of year are chief, but the ellipticity of Earth’s orbit and the fact that the planet is not quite spherical must also be taken into account.