If Jupiter became a star ala 2010...

The Gnome

I recently watched 2010 and I began to wonder how our solar system would be effected if Jupiter did gain enough mass to begin nuclear fusion and became a star.

I know this is close to impossible but it been on my mind for a while and I'd love to know!

mike65

Well it would be a bit brighter I guess! How much more mass would be required I wonder? Enough to suck in the nearest few planets over time?

Mike.

The Gnome

Well apparently anywhere between 75 and 80 times its current mass would make it a Brown Dwarf.

But we all know they're the worst sort of star that everyone hates. So personally, if it's going to happen, I'd like to be on a larger scale. Nothing with "dwarf" in the word.

User45701

Its hard to say what would happen intact i have no ider, just guessing however i would say that it would have effected the gravitational forces in our solar system to a large degree and effected the orbits of all plants and/moons/passing objects like comets, is assuming that halies comet would be on a different orbit?

InFront

Would it have any significance for the earth?

I mean consider the size of Jupiter with respect to the sun: it's tiny

If the mass of Jupiter now is 1.899x10^27kgs (just under 318 earths)
And Jupiter, according to The Gnome, needs at least 75 times more mass to become a star
Then the minimum required to become a star is 1.42x10^29kgs (23,762 Earths)

Well the mass of the sun is 1.989x10^30kgs (332, 831 Earths!!)
And also, remember the Earth is onlu 1au from the Sun and Jupiter is 4au at the best. And becuase retreats in a pattern with respect to the earth, its effect as a star (if any) would probably fluctuate right?

Still dunno if this would really effect the earth...It would look bigger in the sky of course.

The Gnome

User45701 wrote:

Its hard to say what would happen intact i have no ider, just guessing however i would say that it would have effected the gravitational forces in our solar system to a large degree and effected the orbits of all plants and/moons/passing objects like comets, is assuming that halies comet would be on a different orbit?

Indeed. I've tried to download orbit simulators and the like but the amount of options are way to much for me to get it working let alone see how the orbits would be effected.

InFront wrote:

Would it have any significance for the earth?

I mean consider the size of Jupiter with respect to the sun: it's tiny

If the mass of Jupiter now is 1.899x10^27kgs (just under 318 earths)
And Jupiter, according to The Gnome, needs at least 75 times more mass to become a star
Then the minimum required to become a star is 1.42x10^29kgs (23,762 Earths)

Well the mass of the sun is 1.989x10^30kgs (332, 831 Earths!!)
And also, remember the Earth is onlu 1au from the Sun and Jupiter is 4au at the best. And becuase retreats in a pattern with respect to the earth, its effect as a star (if any) would probably fluctuate right?

Still dunno if this would really effect the earth...It would look bigger in the sky of course.

Well as I said 1.42x10^29kgs would make it nothing more than a shoddy brown dwarf so that increase of mass would barely make a difference on a cosmic scale (though it might suck in alot of it's moons).

To effect I'd say Jupiter will have to get a lot bigger!

kongs99

it's not possible for jupiter to become a star even with all the matter in the solar system combine wouldn't even come close to 1/100 the size of the sun. however some dude called andy lloyd claims there is proof that our sun has a binary brown dwarf star outside our solar system. he has a web site called 'dark star'.

http://www.darkstar1.co.uk/

User45701

Actually i was just thinking.
Are any of you aware of what happens if you deprive a human from sunlight and clocks for a extended period of time his body clock reverts to something like a 31 hour day. sleep for 8 or 9 and awake for the rest.

Jupiter as a sun would greatly effect human society because it would be day for a hell of a lot longer also animals and plant life would be greatly effected

mike65

It would'nt have that much effect though, Sun 93 millions miles, Jupiter 600 million miles, sure it would add light but I'd say it would be like a 20 watt bulb in your living room.

Mike.

So Glad

Another way to say, OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH MMMMMMMMMYYYYYYY.

Red Hand

User45701 wrote:

Actually i was just thinking.
Are any of you aware of what happens if you deprive a human from sunlight and clocks for a extended period of time his body clock reverts to something like a 31 hour day. sleep for 8 or 9 and awake for the rest.

Really? Where did you find that? What does it suggest? That at some point the earth's rotation was much much slower, therefore days were longer and so we retain this as a genetic memory or something?

Capt'n Midnight

Oddly enough earth rotated faster in the past so the days would have been shorter not longer. Over 400 days from stromatolite evidence.

Also when the moon was closer tides were much higher than now.

http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CE/CE110.html

The rate of earth's rotation in the distant past can be measured. Corals produce skeletons with both daily layers and yearly patterns, so we can count the number of days per year when the coral grew. Measurements of fossil corals from 180 to 400 million years ago show year lengths from 381 to 410 days, with older corals showing more days per year