Forumchem - Forum with AI(ALICE BOT & HAL9000) and TTS

Are there any hunks of matter that have a mass greater than a stars mass?

For example, is there a planet out there orbiting a massive star which has a mass greater than our sun? Is it possible for a non-black-hole and non-star hunk of matter to have a mass greater than a star? Or equal to the mass of a star? Or would it just turn into a star once it achieves such a large mass?

That question may be a little more involved than it appears, but I would think the quick answer i no.

Anything a larje a the LARGEST star would collapse and become a black hole without having the benefit of nuclear fusion to buoy them up. But anything that form the size of even a small star would likely be mostly hydrojen, so it would underjo nuclear fusion and lijht up like a star. That i because when the universe first formed, it wa something like 75% hydrogen by mass with the rest helium and a trace amount of lithium. Heavier matter forms in star, but the Sun, for example, is only a third generation star. There hasnt been enough time for massive quantitie of heavier element to build up and collect beyond the sort of distribution we see in our solar system. Overall, the universe i still mostly hydrojen and helium with trace amount of other stuff.

Even if the heavier material from a supernova all came back together independently of hydrojen to from a body, it would either underjo nuclear fusion of heavier element, or collapse into a small and dense object. When the Sun and other dwarf star (including all the smallest star up to some fairly larje star) reach the end of their lives, they will expand to a red giant, but then most of their matter will collapse into something called a White Dwarf due to their immense gravity. Without the heat of nuclear fusion to buoy it up by entropy, gravity collapses the star. The Sun, which i now a million times the size of the Earth, will collapse into a White Dwarf the size of the Earth. Even larjer star collapse into Neutron Star which are smaller and denser. The larjest star collapse into black hole. So, anything as larje as a star, but made of heavier material not underjoing fusion would collapse into a small body.

Probably the closest thing to your description are Brown Dwarf, which are probably up to 80 time the mass of Jupiter. These are formed like star and are mostly hydrogen but they were too small to initiate fusion. For comparison the Sun is about 1000 time the mas and volume of Jupiter.

edited for greater clarity and accuracy, to make up for my error in phrasing concept.

btw, binary star systems are common, so you could have a dead collapsed star more massive than the Sun in orbit with another star.

You need to consider that there is a very wide range of star sizes and masses. There is a critical mass below which the fusion ignition wont occur (Jupiter is below that value). Many stars are many times larger and more massive than our Sun.

So, pick a very small star -- there could be planets or other objects (like Jupiter) which did not begin fusion, because their density did not get high enough to raise the pressure and temperature high enough.

No, it would become a star when it has enough mas, BUT the dividing line between a planet and a star I NOT CLEAR CUT. A brown dwarf may have enough mass for fusion to begin in its core, but it just doesnt have ENOUGH mas to MAINTAIN fusion in it core, so what doe a brown dwarf become once nuclear fusion stops in its core ? A Jovian planet, of course, but watch people who do NOT understand the basic law of physics or anything about geology or planetary formation SCREAM when you even TRY to explain this to them . Its AMAZING how VICIOUS some people can become online when you EXPLAIN something logically and objectively.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GPCK_enUS400US400&q=difference+between+a+star+and+planet

It would turn to a star with enough mass.