# If Jupiter became a star.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2007, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-jupiter-became-a-star/403996 "2007-05-14T04:16:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-jupiter-became-a-star/403996/21 "2007-05-16T01:08:53Z")
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad] As opposed to the portuguese-speaking population of S. America, which is measured in brazillians. [/QUOTE] President Bush heard that two Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq. In shock and disbelief, the grieving president held his head in his hands and asked “How many in a brazillion?” Sorry. Not really. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-jupiter-became-a-star/403996/22 "2007-05-16T02:39:55Z")
[Lucifer](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=160176) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-jupiter-became-a-star/403996/23 "2007-05-16T13:53:47Z")
Hadn’t found that earlier thread; thanks. So, if we accept Clarke’s monolith-driven _deus ex machina_, how long could Lucifer sustain fusion? . ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-jupiter-became-a-star/403996/24 "2007-05-16T16:15:31Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Hadn’t found that earlier thread; thanks. So, if we accept Clarke’s monolith-driven _deus ex machina_, how long could Lucifer sustain fusion? [/QUOTE] Since the whole enterprise would require, if I may borrow a phrase from Clarke, a technology indistinguishable from magic, it’s impossible to say. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-jupiter-became-a-star/403996/25 "2007-05-17T15:02:22Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Hadn’t found that earlier thread; thanks. So, if we accept Clarke’s monolith-driven _deus ex machina_, how long could Lucifer sustain fusion?. [/QUOTE] Didn’t **3001** postulate that Lucifer was already starting to run out of energy, a mere thousand years after it was created? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-jupiter-became-a-star/403996/26 "2007-05-17T20:30:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Didn’t 3001 postulate that Lucifer was already starting to run out of energy, a mere thousand years after it was created? I’ve never read _3001_, but if so, that was a piss-poor design. The idea was to give the Europans the opportunity to evolve to sentience, and there’s no way a mere millenium would be enough for that. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-jupiter-became-a-star/403996/27 "2007-05-17T20:56:51Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] I’ve never read _3001_, but if so, that was a piss-poor design. The idea was to give the Europans the opportunity to evolve to sentience, and there’s no way a mere millenium would be enough for that. [/QUOTE] Well see, you do this trick with a humming monolith while playing _Also Sprach Zarathustra_ just as the sun is about ready to rise… I’m guessing that the Monolith Builders had a regime change, though, and the budget line item for “Sustainment and Maintanence, Lucifer, Sol, Milky Way Galaxy, Virgo Supercluster” got axed as part of a deal to get more funding for Kerr Metric subsidies. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2007, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-jupiter-became-a-star/403996/28 "2007-05-18T05:04:14Z")
Upon further investigation, it appears that Clarke has deliberately employed retroactive continuity, saying that each novel is a separate “alternate-timeline” version of events. The story versions are inconsistant. In 2010: Odyssey Two, the epilogue states that Lucifer is still burning in 20,001 AD, while 2061: Odyssey Three states that Lucifer is burning out in 3001 AD. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-jupiter-became-a-star/403996.md?page=1)