Perhaps the article is over simplifying, but even if it isn’t, to be able to calculate an upper bound for something we didn’t have before is valuable. With more data, they’ll be able to understand the range of spin speeds in similar objects, and how those correlate to mass and age. Once they have a solid baseline, they can start to look at outliers and try to understand why those are different. Science is a learning journey, not necessarily a destination.
Perhaps the article is over simplifying, but even if it isn’t, to be able to calculate an upper bound for something we didn’t have before is valuable. With more data, they’ll be able to understand the range of spin speeds in similar objects, and how those correlate to mass and age. Once they have a solid baseline, they can start to look at outliers and try to understand why those are different. Science is a learning journey, not necessarily a destination.
I’m fine with even just an “order or magnitude” ballpark number. But again, they did not give us a rotational speed.