What if our solar system had 2 suns?


Question:
I've read that single sun systems are rare in the universe- many have 2 or even more suns. I've also read that Jupiter was supposed to become our second sun, but lacked the required mass for stellar ignition to occur. What do you think life on Earth would be like if we lived in a binary system (as was intended)?

Answer:
Despite all of the "you wouldn't exist" responses here (which have quite a good bit of merit, given OUR solar system), there have been models of habitable binary systems. One system where habitable planet(s) could exist is our stellar next door neighbor: Alpha Centauri.

Alpha Centauri is either a binary or trinary star system, depending on whether Proxima Centauri is actually a part of that system, or just really close to it. In either case, Promixma is too small and dim to have any bearing on any potential planets there anyway.

Alpha Centauri A and B orbit each other at a substantial enough distance that they wouldn't interfere with each other's habitable zones. Both are very similar to Sol, except slightly hotter, and slightly less regular in output. However, even so, both stars have a habitable zone around them with a stable orbit within those zones. At either star, the other is farther away than Saturn is from our Sun, so the heat from the companion star would be negligible.

Of course, no planets have been discovered there as of yet, and it is not known whether planets could form and remain in stable orbits within those habitable zones. It's theoretically possible, but we just don't have enough data to say "yea" or "nay" definitively yet.

So in short - multi-star inhabitable worlds are a real possibility, but are considered to be fairly long odds at current understanding of planetary formation.
earth wouldn't survive i guess, if Jupiter were to become the second sun, that would be like so hot, we're between two suns
we would be boiled up immediately (life wouldn't exist in the first place), earth is at a very precise distance from the sun, 92 million miles and we would boil up and 94 million and we would freeze to death
will, I think there will be no night !
or the solar energ will be much useful than petroleum
and you may have to wear the sun glasses all the time
As I remember, this was a plot device for '2010'.
Most star systems are binary systems, so a terrestrial planet in a close orbit might have too many perturbations too stay at a constant temperature.

We have it pretty good here. A single star that burns at a fairly constant rate, a nice balmy nearly circular orbit, and a good sized moon that helps 'clear the path' of any remaining 'creation' debris.

Jupiter also does it's fair share of deflecting and altering asteroids and comets that might have hit us repeatedly in the past although neither Jupiter nor the Moon have been 100% effective.

Had Jupiter been been more massive to ignite to at least be a 'warm dwarf', there might be even more places that life might have found a foothold, and light up our night sky for years at a time.
the planet would be ALOT different.in fact earth may not have been the planet claimed by life, life might have been on a cooler plantet...if life could adapt to the heat, we and the rest of the planet, would look different because of all the UV rays our evolution would have adapted to...but imagine goin to one of those solar systems
if we had 2 suns, then you and i wouldnt exist, you wouldnt have chance to ask this question. LOL!
While I think that the "boiled alive" theory is one possibility, another would be that Earth would be much warmer and daylight much longer.
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