Question for the astrofurs.

[lionkingcmsl]

Here is something that crossed my mind last night:

If Jupiter is a "failed star", that didn't quite have enough mass to ignite, and we had the ability to tow Saturn to Jupiter, and have them merge "gently", would there be enough mass to "turn on" Jupiter, or has too much time elapsed and the conditions aren't correct any more to ignite a stellar furnace?

See, I told you I have estoric thoughts at times. :=3

Comments

[nekura-ca.livejournal.com]

Brown dwarf stars start as around 13 Jupiter masses, and even then aren't really full stars. You need around 75-80 Jupiter masses to start hydrogen fusion.

[smrgol-t-kirin.livejournal.com]

So I guess if you threw in Uranus and Neptune plus whatever comets you came accross, you'd still not have enough.

We need a Monolith!