  Many gravitational phenomena that lie at the core of our understanding of the
Universe have not yet been directly observed. An example in this sense is the
boson star that has been proposed as an alternative to some compact objects
currently interpreted as being black holes. In the weak field limit, these
stars are governed by the Newton-Schrodinger equation (NSE). Here we present an
optical system that, under appropriate conditions, identically reproduces the
NSE in two dimensions. A rotating boson star is experimentally and numerically
modelled by an optical beam propagating through a medium with a positive
thermal nonlinearity and is shown to oscillate in time while also stable up to
relatively high densities. For higher densities, instabilities lead to an
apparent breakup of the star, yet coherence across the whole structure is
maintained. These results show that optical analogues can be used to shed new
light on inaccessible gravitational objects.
