Stellar Pulsation Modes in 3D

What you are seeing: a 3D star whose surface oscillates in the angular pattern of the spherical harmonic $Y_l^m(\theta, \phi)$ , animated by $\cos(\omega t)$ . Pick $(l, m)$ and watch the iconic asteroseismic mode patterns. Drag to orbit, slider to scrub time

Figure 1. 3D star surface displaced by

Y_l^m(\theta, \phi)\cos(\omega t)

, colored by signed radial displacement. Method: Legendre-recurrence spherical harmonic, Canvas2D perspective rendering of the displaced lat-lon mesh.

degree ℓ2

order m2

animation speed1

amplitude0.16

WHAT TO TRY

Change the spherical-harmonic degree l and order m: the star surface oscillates in that exact pattern, the same modes asteroseismology reads from a star brightness flicker.
Raise l: more nodal lines carve the surface into finer cells, the high-degree modes that probe shallow layers of the star.
Vary m at fixed l: the pattern tilts from concentric rings (m=0) toward sectoral stripes (m=l), the geometry that rotation splits in frequency.