Need science people to explain consequences of a second star

Bear in mind it was a mini sun, and it was created artificially by omnipotent aliens who did it by design to warm the surface of Europa (which was in close proximity to it, much closer than Mercury is to the sun). Assuming Jupiter continued to orbit our main sun as usual, it doesn't mean Earth would be permanently in daylight. It takes Jupiter nearly 12 years to make a full orbit of the sun so there would be times when it would only be seen in the day sky and even times when it would be fully eclipsed by the sun and not be seen at all.

Jupiter's mass is 0.09% of Sol's. Assuming that mass followed the same process to generate heat and light (might not even be feasible because the resulting gravity probably isn't sufficient to force nuclear fusion), it would be barely noticeable.

FYI, this was the passage from Clarke's book:

Fifty times more brilliant than the full Moon, Lucifer had transformed the skies of Earth, virtually banishing night for months at a time. Despite its sinister connotations, the name was inevitable; and indeed 'Light-bringer' had brought evil as well as good. Only the centuries and the millennia would show in which direction the balance tilted.

On the credit side, the end of night had vastly extended the scope of human activity, especially in the less-developed countries. Everywhere, the need for artificial lighting had been substantially reduced, with resulting huge savings in electrical power. It was as if a giant lamp had been hoisted into space, to shine upon half the globe. Even in daytime Lucifer was a dazzling object, casting distinct shadows.

Farmers, mayors; city managers, police, seamen, and almost all those engaged in outdoor activities – especially in remote areas – welcomed Lucifer; it had made their lives much safer and easier. But it was hated by lovers, criminals, naturalists, and astronomers.

The first two groups found their activities seriously restricted, while naturalists were concerned about Lucifer's impact upon animal life. Many nocturnal creatures had been seriously affected, while others had managed to adapt. The Pacific grunion, whose celebrated mating pattern was locked to high tides and moonless nights, was in grave trouble, and seemed to be heading for rapid extinction.

And so, it seemed, were Earth-based astronomers. That was not such a scientific catastrophe as it would once have been, for more than fifty per cent of astronomical research depended upon instruments in space or on the Moon. They could be easily shielded from Lucifer's glare; but terrestrial observatories were seriously inconvenienced by the new sun in what had once been the night sky.

The human race would adapt, as it had done to so many changes in the past. A generation would soon be born that had never known a world without Lucifer; but that brightest of all stars would be an eternal question to every thinking man and woman.

Why had Jupiter been sacrificed – and how long would the new sun radiate? Would it burn out quickly, or would it maintain its power for thousands of years– perhaps for the lifetime of the human race? Above all, why the interdiction upon Europa, a world now as cloud-covered as Venus?

There must be answers to those questions; and Mankind would never be satisfied until it had found them.


My people skills are fine. It's my tolerance of morons that needs work.

I am not of 'Earth Science' (which is very lacking, dogmatic and 'guided' a lot by corporations, big money and the 'elite' powers that be to be trustworthy, not to mention it absolutely does not allow True Science to be even a tiny part of it - that being, of course, spirituality, as that is what existence consists of; The Great Spirit), but I can tell you something.

First consequence of a second sun (which most likely could not happen out of simply converting Jupiter into one - this would lead to SO many problems in any case, considering gravities, power triangles (hard to explain, but fundamental to solar systems and planets), people living on Jupiter's moons and so on, and so much chaos due to all kinds of shifts that even the actual sun might become somewhat unbalanced)..

Let's say there's a proper second sun that can come into the solar system as almost pure energy and then our sun's influence will 'activate' it (for the lack of better terminology).

There would have to be some kind of balance, or the solar system would just be basically destroyed and planets would fling far away from it. So we can imagine two suns 'orbiting' something inbetween them.

Of course, two suns could really not be that far from each other, because they would affect each other, so this kind of orbiting thing would be pretty necessary for any kind of balance. Can you imagine a sun orbiting a sun together with planets? How would the planets 'know' which sun to orbit, etc..? It couldn't work in any other way except the two suns basically being 'brothers' of sorts (I would call them 'sisters', but they are actuall expanding energy, so they are 'yang', male direction of energy)

This would create bigger forces to push the planets to much larger orbits, so nothing would have the same orbit as they used to. Some planets might be whisked away from the solar system, and other planets could take their places..