What kinds of effects that Earth would have if Jupiter were a star instead of a planet?

Question

I've heard that Jupiter radiates 3 times as much energy as it receives from the Sun. This means that the planet has a great internal source of energy. Some astronomers think of Jupiter as a brown dwarf, or a star that failed, because of its small mass. That is, its mass was too small to produce the internal temperatures needed to set off the nuclear reactions that occur inside a star. However, if Jupiter were 100 times bigger that it is now, then it would be a star instead of a planet. Our solar system would have been a binary star system.

I do know that Earth would be bathed with nearly continuous sunlight as the Sun and Jupiter would be on both sides of the planet. But what else things would be if Jupiter were a star? How is that going to effect Earth's life? Would humanity survive as they do in reality, or something else completely different? What would become the rest of our solar system? I think that an alternate Jupiter is a cool sci-fi story that I would write for myself!

Answer 1

there would be no earth

Answer 2

The answer would depend a lot on just how massive it is. And we would not be in continual light. Jupiter is on the same side as the sun for about half of the year. But yes, we would have a lot less nighttime.

If it was hot enough, it could effect the climate here, but keep in mind. Jupiter is about 5 times farther away from us than the sun. The gravity, I believe, would be the most hazardous thing as it could perturb the earth's orbit. There is a cool program called "Newton." I haven't had it for years but I believe it can still be downloaded from the Internet. You can input the data for Earth, Sun, and Jupiter, giving it any mass you want. Then run a simulation and see what effect it would have on the earth. Just for fun, stick Mars in there, too. I bet if you made Jupiter about 1/4 the mass of the sun it would eject Mars from the solar system.

Answer 3

Had it gained some more mass early on it might have become a small star and we would have a typical binary system. That would have changed the whole dynamics of this solar system and we probably would not be here. But if that was the only change and our planet was left to itself there would only be another very bright star in the sky that did not behave as other stars do. The amount of any radiation would be insignificant. There has been some talk that our system may actually be a binary but that research is still ongoing. Which reminds me to look at that.

Answer 4

Jupiter would have to be about 50 times its current mass to become a star. That would probably have destablized the orbits of the innter planets, making life on earth impossible. If not, however, there would just be another sun in the sky, but very small and dim. Not even bright enough to effect our temperature very much (unless it was bigger, then who knows).

Answer 5

Already done the sci-fi, 2001 space odyssey. Cool movie in its day. We would have a sister planet Europa assuming all other masses are in approximately the same location. It is at least 5 times farther away so the light would be 125 times as dull if my math guess is correct. It probably wouldn't do more than a full moon. It doesn't seem like it should have much effect on the evolution of life on Earth.

Answer 6

What if Jupiter were 100 times more massive than it is now?

Then it's mass would be 31,783 times that of Earth, or 0.0955 times the mass of the Sun.

1) as a star: It would have a Luminosity of 0.001 times the luminosity of the Sun. (Luminosity is the total output).

When in opposition (closest to us), at a distance of 5 AU (Sun is at 1 AU), its brillance would be 0.001/25 times the brillance of the Sun (1370*0.001/25 = 0.055 Watts per square metre). The total amount of energy received by Earth would then be 1370+0.055 instead of 1370 W/m^2. This added energy would increase Earth average temperature by 0.01%.

Our present average temperature is a little over 280 K so our average temperature would increase by 0.3 degrees.

This maximum would occur every 399 days (It would occur 5 weeks later every year). At minimum (when Jupiter is in conjunction), it is 7 AU from the Sun, therefore only half as brillant and causing only an added 0.015 degree increase instead of 0.03

0.055 W/m^2 is about 11 magnitudes dimmer than the Sun. However, most of the luminosity would be in the infrared. At maximum, then, our Big Jove would probably appear dimmer than the Full Moon in visible light -- and it would be very, very red.

2) As a source of gravity: Jupiter already changes the orbits of the planets. If it were 100 times more massive, it might disrupt the solar system sufficiently for some planets to have been ejected (Mars? Earth? Saturn? much of the asteroids!).

The Sun spot cycle (approx. 11 years -- or 22 if you count polarity) may be in part influenced by the gravitational effect of Jupiter. Would our Sun become mroe active?

Tidal heating of its satellites (already quite a bit) would be a lot more: In addition to receiving a lot more heat from their new sun, the satellites of Jupiter would be heated a lot more by tidal heating. More than just a fraction of degree...

Answer 7

If Jupiter was 100 times more massive, it would have to be a lot farther from the sun or it would merge with it. They say it's possible that our sun was one of a binary before the earth formed and the two small suns merged to form the sun. But there is no way to know for sure.

Answer 8

The answer depends on what the surface temperature of our planet would be. If it was too hot to sustain liquid water, then either there would be no life on earth, or it would be subterranian. Another issue to take into consideration would be the amount of radiation hitting the surface of earth. Another star on our back side would likely put far too much radiation on the surface for life as we know it to exist without DNA being altered beyond recognition.

Answer 9

I can only guess. The one thing we would probably notice si that all planets and moons would have a slight change in orbits. More heat recieved from a second star would mean a warmer planet. So i would guess in ordewr to stay where we are at our orbit would need to be closer to jupiter and farther from the sun.

Answer 10

It would probably pose a big problem, due to gravitational pulls due to two different stars being so close. Life on earth probably wouldn't be the same if Jupiter was a star as well as our sun.

Answer 11

it would seem depending upon different photo voltaic structures we've discovered, that the gas giants are outside the area the position a planet might want to keep up lifelike ours. that would want to comprise any moons they have. So make sure you would ought to stay in a dome or underground. because you stay in a dome or underground, such issues as eclipses would not truly count number that a lot as you would ought to have your own lights. although you're hypothesizing life evolving on the moon. Even then, the daylight would nonetheless be the source of light and warmth. make sure they might have countless earthquakes and fairly likely it will be locked like our moon is, with one area continually dealing with the planet. it really is about all the idea i am going to placed in this one.