Jupiter Almost Became a Sun

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]Jupiter is massive.

[00:00:02]So massive, it almost became a star.

[00:00:05]In fact, Jupiter is more than two times heavier than every other planet combined.

[00:00:11]It's mostly made of hydrogen and helium, just like the sun. So, why didn't it ignite? Because it wasn't massive enough. To become a true star, an object [music] needs enough gravity to crush its core, creating nuclear fusion, the reaction [music] that powers stars.

[00:00:30]Jupiter tried. Its gravity compresses its interior so intensely that the core becomes extremely hot, but not hot enough. It would need around 80 times more mass to become a real star.

[00:00:46]Still, Jupiter does something strange. It actually gives off more heat than it receives from the sun, like a failed star, still [music] glowing from within.

[00:00:58]If Jupiter had been bigger, our solar system would have had two suns.

[00:01:04]Follow Bright Matter for more cosmic facts.