Stars And Mini Stars

[belovelife]

if jupiter and saturn were mini stars, then there would potentially be billions of the in our galaxy without a parent star, if they did exist how would we detect them?

[Moontanman]

if jupiter and saturn were mini stars, then there would potentially be billions of the in our galaxy without a parent star, if they did exist how would we detect them?

 

 

WISE... http://wise.ssl.berkeley.edu/

[Turtle]

if jupiter and saturn were mini stars, then there would potentially be billions of the in our galaxy without a parent star, if they did exist how would we detect them?

 

but, they are not stars they are planets. they do not have sufficient mass. you need ~ 60x the mass of jupiter to start burning hydrogen & be a bona fide star.

 

Jupiter: The Star that Might Have Been

...The factor which prevents Jupiter from burning like our Sun is mass. If our king of the planets were about sixty times more massive than it is, it would indeed be a star!. More mass would not make Jupiter grow in size, but rather, cause the planet to collapse from compression under gravity. At this point, thermonuclear reactions would ignite and Jupiter would become a luminous star with a diameter of about 100,000 miles (161,000 km.) ...

 

here's a wiki on methods of detecting exoplanets. :smilingsun: methods of detecting extrasolar planets

[Moontanman]

If Jupiter had 60X it's mass there would probably be no solar system, all the extra mass would be in Jupiter.... and then some.... BTW there are several if not dozens (that we have detected) of what are called rogue planets that are just drifting in interstellar space.

[Wanderlust]

You mean brown dwarfs? They are called brown dwarfs and there are alot of them. Same with interstellar planets.

[belovelife]

mabe, more similar to this

 

http://www.space.com/13086-photos-neptune-uranus-moons-infrared-images.html

 

 

 

interstellar planets without stars next to them

[Wanderlust]

Oh yes, interstellar planets ;) They are predicted to be in great numbers througought interstellar space. There is no hope for life as we know it. Though perhaps there could be an undersuface ocean fead by techtonics where life could develop. The suface of these planets will forever be in a shroud of darkness only a few degrees above absoulute zero.

[belovelife]

http://www.space.com/13104-fried-egg-nebula-hypergiant-stars.html

 

 

 

and events like this could make them

[fahrquad]

It would be pretty cool to live in a binary system, but neither Jupiter nor Saturn are massive enough to sustain a fusion reaction. I suggest you read or watch "2010: The Year We Make Contact" by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. It is an intriguing tale about an alien intelligence causing Jupiter to ignite warming the icy moons of Jupiter and helping foster the development of life. The movie stays very close to the book, and either is well worth the time. :D