Celestia Forums

PlutonianEmpire wrote:Two questions:

1) What is the chemical make up of Jupiter, in percentages?

PlutonianEmpire wrote:2) How big would jupiter be if we were some how able to compress it into a star (It does not matter to me wether or not it fuses, just as long as it can be lit up or ignited for whatever amount of time)?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_(planet)

As impressive as Jupiter's mass is, extrasolar planets have been discovered with much greater masses. There is no clear-cut definition of what distinguishes a large planet such as Jupiter from a brown dwarf star, although the latter possesses rather specific spectral lines. Currently, if a supermassive object is above 12 Jupiter masses, large enough to burn deuterium, it is considered a brown dwarf star; below that mass, it is a planet. Jupiter is thought to have about as large a diameter as a planet of its composition can; adding extra mass would result in further gravitational compression, in theory leading to stellar ignition. This has led some astronomers to term it a "failed star", although Jupiter would need to be about seventy times as large to become a star.


Hydrogen ~86%
Helium ~14%
Methane 0.1%
Water vapor 0.1%
Ammonia 0.02%
Ethane 0.0002%
Phosphine 0.0001%
Hydrogen sulfide <0.00010%

PlutonianEmpire wrote:3) How do I make the default planet jupiter orbit another star using the "modify" SSC command? (I ask because jupiter's moons flicker with the new star in it's place)

buggs_moran wrote:

PlutonianEmpire wrote:3) How do I make the default planet jupiter orbit another star using the "modify" SSC command? (I ask because jupiter's moons flicker with the new star in it's place)

The flickering may be a result of Jupiter still existing. Comment it out of the solarsys.ssc file. I assume you created the White Dwarf Jupiter in an stc file?

buggs_moran wrote:I don't think it's possible. Perhaps you could try using Runar's th_placeholder.3ds as a mesh for Jupiter.