Could Jupiter become a star if a large mass crashed into it?

Question

It has been said that Jupiter would be a star if it where not for its size. Even though it is by far the largest planet in the solar system it isn't even close to being the size of our sun. But what if; lets say another huge mass crashed into it. Could this cause the planet to reach a large enough size to become a star?

Or could Jupiter's gravity vaccum up enough debris to cause it grow to a size big enough to start the process which would lead it to become a star?

Answer 1

No.
If so happens Jupiter will be pulled by the sun and crahsed.

Answer 2

For Jupiter to become even a very small humble star, its mass has to grow about 10 to 100 times its present mass. There is not enough planets/debris/gas to make up this much matter to add to Jupiter, in the solar system.

As the solar system moves with respect to the neighbourhood stars, one may speculate that Jupiter may find new mass to add. Similarly one may look at the possibility of a new gaseous matter or debris as the milky way galaxy rotates, with solar system in one of its arms. But these are remote possibilities.

So, the answer is : NO.

Answer 3

Probably not. It would take either many similarly large masses, or a handful of much larger masses, or one really large mass (which would probably already have the qualities of being a star) to make Jupiter part of a star. So, if 1,000 other masses like Jupiter somehow managed to all collide, then maybe, but on the other hand, depending upon the approach vectors, they all might just break apart and spread apart so far that they never coalece into a star. This is certainly not a likely event to happen naturally. Much more likely is for stars to be created from dust, asteroids and gasses - and over a long period of time.

Answer 4

Jupiter has about 2 1/2 times the mass of all the other planets in the Solar System added together. However, the Sun contains around 98% of all the mass in the Solar System. It is all a matter of comparison. Jupiter's volume is about 1300 times that of the Earth, but it's mass is only about 320 times that of the Earth, which shows that it is considerably less dense. In order to sustain nuclear fusion, Jupiter would need to be about 50 times it's current size. If we had the technology to move large amounts of matter around via wormholes, I doubt we would need to make ourselves a second sun!

Answer 5

Jupiter would need at least 75 times more mass to become a true star. If a mass 75 times more massive than Jupiter crashed into it, there wouldn't be enough left of either object to form a star.

Answer 6

if it's mass were a mere 100 times larger, a relatively low number considering, it would probably be a red dwarf. if another large mass were to 'crash' into it, it is not by any means certain that Jupiter would absorb and retain the additional mass.
inqirer's answer is quite good also.

Answer 7

It would require a mass much larger than Jupiter to do so.

Answer 8

It would need about 60 times it's current mass for that to happen.

Answer 9

It would have to have many times the mass of our Jovian gas giant, which is extremely unlikely.

Answer 10

yes