If Jupiter became a star..?

[gizz72]

Greetings,

I'm sure Jupiter known to be a, so-called,failed star back in the origins of the solor system.

What if Jupiter turned into one. Would that affect us or the whole solor system or we'll be a system of Binary stars?

Regards,

Gizz

[KennyR]

Jupiter doesn't have a hundredth of the mass of even the smallest star. Ain't ever gonna happen.

[PMC]

Not sure how accurate this is (cue Blob or KennyR to set the record straight), but I think I read somewhere that if Jupiter was sixty times more massive then it would be a star.

Obviously that's a substantial difference in size.

I did read an interesting theory about what lies at the core of Jupiter.  There may be a core of hydrogen under such intense pressure that it displays all the properties of a metal, but wilder theories have speculated that the pressures and temperatures within the lower reaches of the Jovian atmosphere are more than capable of compressing the carbon there into a massive diamond.

A huge diamond floating in space has already been observed (IIRC comprised of carbon present in the core of a dead star), so now might be a good time to ditch those shares in De Beers...

Back on topic...  If Jupiter were sufficiently massive to become a star, I wonder if the Jovian moons would harbour life.  I like to think that Europa possesses geothermal vents under the ice surface, as the constant massaging by Jupiter's gravity is already sufficient to power massive volcanic activity on Io.  

And during those months when Jupiter is visible from Earth, we'd be bathed in weak sunlight during night time which would play havoc with our body clocks!

[whabang]

Jupiter doesn't have quite the mass for achieving brown-dwarf status (a star that never managed to light up), but it's not very far away.

I read a theory about the possibility to light up Jupiter with numerous hydrogen bombs deep inside it, should the Sun ever start fading, but I doubt it would be a good idea.

If Jupiter suddenly was lit, the temperature on Terra would increase at first, and then vary as the distance between Jupiter and it changed. During the hot periods, when Jupiter is near, I suspect civilization would only be possible around the polar regions. It would be the end of the world as we know it™!

On the other hand, should the Sun start fading for some reason, It might be a good idea. :-)

[PMC]

whabang wrote:

If Jupiter suddenly was lit, the temperature on Terra would increase at first, and then vary as the distance between Jupiter and it changed. During the hot periods, when Jupiter is near, I suspect civilization as we know it would only be possible around the polar regions. It would be the end of the world as we know it™!

Great idea for a disaster film, it's never been done before!  Get on the phone to Mr Spielberg Whabang...  (you read the plot here first).

Actually, given the huge distance between Jupiter and the Sun, I doubt very much that it would make a huge amount of difference to us here on Earth, temperature wise.  The moons of Jupiter at present are internally heated by the constant massaging of Jupiter's gravity as opposed to solar radiation.

[KennyR]

whabang wrote:
Jupiter doesn't have quite the mass for achieving brown-dwarf status (a star that never managed to light up), but it's not very far away.

It is. If it was forty times heavier it wouldn't be a brown dwarf 'star'.

I read a theory about the possibility to light up Jupiter with numerous hydrogen bombs deep inside it, should the Sun ever start fading, but I doubt it would be a good idea.

It wouldn't work. You need a sustained temperature of about 12 million kelvin and a pressure of millions of atmospheres to get a sustained fusion reaction. You might get that from a nuke - for about a split second. That's enough for some nuclear fusion, but it would stop as soon as the generated heat escaped, and that would be fast. No-one actually says there isn't fusion happening in Jupiter right now (possibly a few atoms a second) but its sustaining it that makes a star a star.

[Cyberus]

Jupiter is a failed star because it wasn't massive enough - hence why it is known as a 'brown dwarf'

edit: This time I've read some of the other replies
@Whabang - I'm pretty sure Jupiter is a brown dwarf actually.

Shame I threw away most of my Astrophsics notes from my Astro degree, as I'd be able to look at this in more detail.
My vague recollection, however, is that stars are on what is known as the 'main sequence' of the HR (Hertzprung-Russell) diagram, which can be plotted as luminosity against temperature.

[whabang]

Jupiter is not a brown dwarf, it's a large gas gigant. IIRC, it would have to be ten times larger to be classified as a brown dwarf.

I never said that it would be possible to light Jupiter; I simply implied that doing so, should it be possible, would not be a good thing.


Ij spel liek chit!

[Cyberus]

I'm sure it is a brown dwarf dammit - I studied Astrophysics at university for three years I should know!



I should know...:roll:
:lol:


edit:
It seems some astronomers think Jupiter displays many brown dwarf characterisitics, such as 'weather' but is maybe not dense enough to be a brown dwarf, and doesn't radiate energy - interestingly brown dwarfs initially radiate 'light' as a result of 'burning' - De -> He, and then later as a result of the release of Gr energy as they contract.

See, I told you, I should know....
In future I'll rely on google and not on my education...:-D

[whabang]

Told you so... :-P

I learnt that in the 9th grade, didn't you? :lol:

[blobrana]

hum,
that`s a difficult one...
but in my opinion jupiter isn`t a brown dwarf (because it is not very luminous.
Brown Dwarfs are usually regarded as having a mass between 10^28 kg and 84 x 10^28. and temp of, say,  950 +/-50 K

best to read this link to make up your own mind...




[The important thing here is mass; an extra `solar wind` and extra light is all we should feel, if we had another `star`]

[Speelgoedmannetje]

whabang wrote:
On the other hand, should the Sun start fading for some reason,

The sun won't fade (in theory that is)
When the sun dies, the core becomes weak, the sun expands (consuming the earth with it's flames) and after that it collapses and becomes a black hole. That'll happen 6 billion years in the future, but before that would happen, the sun will be consumed by another black hole (that'll happen 4 billion years in the future)
IIRC that is...

[whabang]

The guy who wrote that article obviously had another opinion. :-)

Anyway, I believe it was mostly nonsense.

[Cyberus]

OT:

@ Whabang
Did someone put something sharp on your chair? :-P

[PMC]

Cyberus wrote:
OT:

@ Whabang
Did someone put something sharp on your chair? :-P

Or was it a still from a blue movie...  Something else those crazy Swedes are known for.