If not, what would consistute it being one? Could it be?
2007-11-06 07:47:18 · 6 answers · asked by Jansen J 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
No, too small.
There is no official minimum mass yet, but it appears that the dividing line between a giant planet and a brown dwarf would be around 13 times the mass of Jupiter. This is the minimum mass at which fusion CAN take place theoretically (for deuterium) even though, in nature, fusion (of hydrogen) cannot take place in bodies less than about 80 times the mass of Jupiter.
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A brown dwarf is not a star (if you define a star as a body that can sustain nuclear fusion in its core).
The smallest object having been called a 'brown dwarf' is only 8 times the mass of Jupiter. I suspect that it will loose its status when an official definition (based on mass) is adopted.
For now, the reason it is called a brown dwarf (as opposed to a planet) is that it appears to have formed in isolation, from its own collapsing cloud of gas (as opposed to Jupiter which has formed inside the collapsing cloud that formed our Sun).
2007-11-06 07:49:52 · answer #1 · answered by Raymond 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A brown dwarf is a type of smallish star that expended its fuel and is slowly cooling. Jupiter never got to the point of being a star; it needed to be nine times more massive for nuclear fusion to begin in its core.
2007-11-06 08:20:28 · answer #2 · answered by ? 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do you mean Jupiter, the planet? Can't be. Brown dwarfs are stars.
2007-11-06 07:51:00 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If Jupiter would have been maybe double its size, it could have gone through nuclear fusion, thereby becomeing a brown dwarf.
2007-11-06 07:53:43 · answer #4 · answered by chemicalcajun 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
JUPITER is a planet. A brown dwarf is a star.
2007-11-06 07:56:51 · answer #5 · answered by Special K 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No.
A brown dwarf is a star. It would have to have nuclear reactions in its core.
2007-11-06 07:50:11 · answer #6 · answered by Gen•X•er (I love zombies!) 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋