Why Jupiter is often referred to as a failed star?

Jupiter is known to us as the largest planet in our solar system and a gas giant. But did you know Jupiter is often referred to as a failed star

Not quite the mass

Jupiter is dubbed by many as a failed star because it is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium, like the Sun, but it is does not have enough mass to reach the internal pressure and temperature necessary to fuse hydrogen into helium and kickstart thermonuclear fusion. Its mass is 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the solar system combined, but it is still not enough to make Jupiter a star. The planet has only 0.1 % of the mass of the Sun.

Jupiter never had a chance

Many scientists argue that it is unfair to call Jupiter a failed star because it never had the chance to become one. Stars and planets form in different ways. A star is formed when a cloud of interstellar gas and dust collapses unto itself. Because of rotation, these clouds form flattened accretion discs that surround the central growing star. As the mass of the star grows, collecting material from the disc, the core of the star starts to squeeze and become tighter, thereby causing it to become hotter. Eventually, the core becomes so compressed and hot that it ignites, and thermonuclear fusion kicks off. At this point, the star stops collecting material from the disc and all the leftover material is free to form planets.

When it comes to the formation of Jupiter, scientists believe it happened in two steps. Initially, tiny chunks of icy rock and dust present in the accretion disc started colliding and forming a planetary embryo. Once this embryo was large enough (about 10 times more massive than Earth), its self-gravity became strong enough to pull in gas and dust directly from the disc During this step, Jupiter gained most of its mass, but it wasn’t enough to make it a star. The Sun probably took away most of the mass from the disc leaving almost nothing for Jupiter to become a star.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *