Could a brown dwarf passing through our solar system ignite Jupiter?

[davenn]

What I can recall about why we are not supposed to be able to see it is that for a good amount of time it's approach was from an extreme southern point of view. They said that it was only visible from the Antarctic for a very long time as it approached from behind the sun, from our point of view. That's the source of all sorts of conspiracy theories of the governments having bases there observing it but hiding the truth from the public. But now I guess it's supposed to be between the Earth and the sun - which is why they are all saying that it can't be seen now (back-lit), unless you use an infrared telescope.

Honestly, Beth, Me being an astronomer of over 40 years, I can say "this is all total garbage"
From Sydney, Australia, I see all the same nite sky as anyone in Antarctica does
you really need to give this up

As Drakkith and rootone have said, any other significant sized object mass and physical size would have VERY NOTICEABLE effects on the other planetsDave

 

[Beth Doodle]

The issue here is that we've been lenient with our rule against crackpot content: we generally don't allow it even for the purpose of debunking. We're discussing how to handle it, but in the meantime you can help by asking more concise/focused questions without all of the crackpot background behind them. It would also help to recognize that some of these crackpot claims you are trying to debunk are practically insane, which makes it hard to give a straight/no frills response. In other words, you are trying to generate "legitimate science questions" and not having much luck. Sometimes you just have to accept that no matter how much lipstick you put on it, we can still see the pig.

Sorry, but there have been so many posts that I've wound up cross-posting while not being aware that others have posted since the last post I was aware of. That's why I missed this post until now.

As you can see from my last two posts, I answered the questions that I was asked about Niburu, but I did say that I din't want to discuss it any further. And I won't. I want to stick to the science, not go off into the crackpot stuff.

 

[Beth Doodle]

Honestly, Beth, Me being an astronomer of over 40 years, I can say "this is all total garbage"
From Sydney, Australia, I see all the same nite sky as anyone in Antarctica does
you really need to give this up

As Drakkith and rootone have said, any other significant sized object mass and physical size would have VERY NOTICEABLE effects on the other planetsDave

Everyone has been cross-posting so things have gotten a bit messy but if you read my last few posts you will see that I am not a proponent for the theory. And it's the policy of this forum to not go into this sort of stuff. So I apologize for not commenting on the content of your post, but we can no longer continue discussing anything pertaining to this subject except for the hypothetical nature of the collision itself. By that, I mean the science of it.

Think of it as if I were an author researching this collision scenario for a movie I was writing. Anyone with any science background knows that movies don't necessarily stick to what is in the realm of reality. The drama is what counts, so they bend reality and science to suit their desires - reality need not apply. So son't dwell on the legitimacy of the existence of this thing - it's not really worthy of wasting your time on. Just stick to the science. Thanks!

 

[davenn]

Anyone with any science background knows that movies don't necessarily stick to what is in the realm of reality. The drama is what counts, so they bend reality and science to suit their desires - reality need not apply.

Sorry, but this is a science forum ... reality MUST apply

Just stick to the science. Thanks!

and everyone has been doing their best to give you credible science based answers, despite your constant strolling into fiction Dave

 

[Beth Doodle]

The visibility of a Brown dwarf depends on its size and age. Only very old ones will have cooled enough to emit no visible light. Brown dwarfs have spectral types just like main sequence stars: L and T with a provisional class Y. Even the ultra cool brown dwarf UGPS 0722-05 which is a possible candidate as a class Y would, at the distance of Jupiter from Earth, have an apparent magnitude brighter than the brightest star, and would be quite visible.

Because of the amount of cross-posting going on, this is another post I missed until going back and reviewing the entire thread, so I apologize for not responding sooner.

I was going by what I read on Wikipedia about the visibility of brown dwarfs which is this:

"Early theories concerning the nature of the lowest-mass stars and the hydrogen-burning limit suggested that a population I object with a mass less than 0.07 solar masses (M☉) or a population II object less than 0.09 M☉ would never go through normal stellar evolution and would become a completely degenerate star.[12] The first self-consistent calculation of the hydrogen-burning minimum mass confirmed a value between 0.08 and 0.07 solar masses for population I objects.[13][14] The discovery of deuterium burning down to 0.012 solar masses and the impact of dust formation in the cool outer atmospheres of brown dwarfs in the late 1980s brought these theories into question. However, such objects were hard to find as they emit almost no visible light. Their strongest emissions are in the infrared (IR) spectrum, and ground-based IR detectors were too imprecise at that time to readily identify any brown dwarfs."

Also, I was going on the assumption that this thing could be undetectable by the naked eye from Earth because it could be between the sun and earth, and therefore back-lit.

But, hold on, just this minute it occurred to me that that can't happen if it's out near Jupiter. If Jupiter, which gives off no light of it's own, is visible to us from earth, then this object, no matter how much light it did or did not emit, would be visible too.

Actually, this sudden epiphany explains a lot to me. It doesn't explain the question of what exactly would happen in the case of a collision or near miss, but it does bring to light (no pun intended) that we'd see this thing coming from a long way off if it were there. As long as Jupiter were visible from earth, then so would this thing be visible if it were in it's vicinity.

Interesting.

I need to re-read all the posts and think on this a bit, but I think all you fine folks may have given me all the answers that I need. Even though as some of you have said, the results would vary depending on the particular circumstances of the orbits involved. But I think I have enough of the puzzle pieces now that give me all that I need to know.

I want to thank you all for your time and insights into this. I really do appreciate it!

 

[berkeman]

Beth has asked that the thread remain closed now. Thank you everybody for you help on her questions.