<p>No, it is not since Jupiter is not a star. We call the system of a star with its planets surrounding the center of mass a simply "solar System".</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-14T19:22:45.587Z
2013-12-14T19:22:45.587Z
Claudia
<p>The Sun burns hidrogen, so it is a star.</p>

<p>Jupiter does not, so it is not a star. Not even a brown dwarf.</p>

<p>Since a non-star body orbits a star, it is a planet, a dwarf planet or an asteroid/comet. Since Jupiter has cleared his orbit, it is a planet.</p>

<p>Why do I say that Jupiter orbits a star? This is where I go to the center of your question.</p>

<p>The orbit of the Sun around the galactic center is (more or less) a circle. If you draw Jupiter's orbit around the galactic center it has some retrogradations and is not always convex.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-28T08:09:45.497Z
Jupiter hasn't "cleared its orbit". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_trojan
Giovanni
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-12T23:02:55.253Z
2013-12-12T23:02:55.253Z
Envite
<p>I'm not sure I understand your question entirely, but i'll do my best to offer a decent answer. It's true that the composition of Jupiter is very similar to that of the Sun (very similar approx. $H$ and $He$ abundance and pretty similar in density). The problem is that Jupiter is not nearly massive enough to have the internal pressure and temperature to undergo nuclear fusion. Jupiter doesn't have any particular special status aside from being the King of Planets in our solar system.</p>

<p>As for the last part of your question, all objects orbit around a center of mass. Though because the Sun is much more massive, the center of mass lies very close to the center of the star (except in the case of Jupiter, where the CoM lies outside of the sun and is approx the length of its radius). This is why all planets in our solar system orbit around the sun. This will indeed cause a slight perturbation of orbital alignment, but I don't believe it's significant.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-28T08:08:24.963Z
The dwarf planet Sedna orbits around the Sun-Jupiter barycenter, unlike the other planets who orbit the Sun directly.
Giovanni
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-11T21:07:28.503Z
I know, but in this case, the center of mass is outside the Sun because Jupiter is very massive. Which make it a special case. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_planet#Center-of-mass_definition
Thank you for your answer.
Thibault
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-11T21:17:07.507Z
You're right Jupiter is indeed the only exception (i'll go ahead and edit that in the answer just to be clear). Though the Sun is not a planet, so i'm not certain the double planet classification holds. Jupiter is also not a star from the reasons stated above so it's not a binary star system. I don't believe a special status name exists for this type of phenonmenon.
Lame-Ov2.0
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-11T19:26:47.703Z
2013-12-11T21:18:22.010Z
2013-12-11T21:18:22.010Z
Lame-Ov2.0
<p>Since Jupiter is very massive, it is the only planet (in our solar system) that has a center of mass with the Sun that lies outside the volume of the Sun. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_%28planet%29#Orbit_and_rotation">Source</a>)</p>

<p>If Jupiter was a star, they would form a « binary star ».</p>

<p>If the Sun was a planet, they would form a « double planet ».</p>

<p>Since the Sun is a star and Jupiter is a planet, does this have a particular name?</p>

<p>Does Jupiter have a special status or a particular effect in our solar system because of its heavy mass?</p>

<p>Since Jupiter-Sun's center of mass lies outside the volume of the Sun, that means that the Sun moves around that center of mass. Does this have an effect on Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars orbits?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-01T12:29:10.310Z
Old question I realize but one problem with using barycenter outside/inside the larger objects radius is that things drift.   Our sun will grow larger, so does our definition of our solar system change as our sun gets bigger - that seems an awfully bad system to categorize with.   Our Moon is slowly drifting away from the earth and in a few billion years it might qualify as a joint system with a barycenter just outside earth (on average, given it will have an elliptic orbit).   Does it stop being a moon when that happens?   I think this is a mathematical trick more than a useful definition.
userLTK
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-01T12:52:43.457Z
@userLTK Thanks for this mathematical precision. And thanks for pointing that all these things evolve...
Thibault
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-25T13:26:33.260Z
The Sun-Jupiter center of mass is always inside the Sun. The center of mass of the Sun with respect to the solar system barycenter can indeed be outside the Sun, but this requires Saturn or Uranus and Neptune to be in opposition with respect to Jupiter.
David Hammen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-23T04:06:15.200Z
I just want to point out that we don’t call a single star system a “solar system.” That is just the name of our system. Multi-star systems are called “Star systems” or “Stellar systems,” while single star systems with planets are called “Planetary systems.” We are in a planetary system called the solar system because our one star is Sol (or the Sun).
Samuel Spencer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-11T16:53:24.807Z
Systems composed of other objects besides stars are currently ill-defined. For example, Pluto-Charon should technically be a binary dwarf planet system, but it is yet to be recognized as such by the IAU.
called2voyage
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-11T18:09:57.127Z
I have problem understanding what the question is. Status as defined by whom and for what purpose?
TildalWave
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-11T18:43:08.233Z
`Since Jupiter-Sun's center of mass lies outside the volume of the Sun, that means that the Sun moves around that center of mass` All objects orbit at the barycenter between the two objects, not just Jupiter.
asawyer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-11T21:03:44.143Z
@TildalWave called2voyage cleverly renamed my question. I hope it's clearer.
Thibault
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-11T21:06:22.653Z
@asawyer I know, but in this case, the center of mass is outside the Sun because Jupiter is very massive. Which make it a special case. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_planet#Center-of-mass_definition
Thibault
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-11T21:09:46.907Z
@called2voyage Thank you for this great comment which actually answer my question. And thank you for correcting my question :-)
Thibault
<the-sun><solar-system><jupiter>
Is the Jupiter-Sun system considered a binary system of some type?
Thibault
# Is the Jupiter-Sun system considered a binary system of some type?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-12-11)

Since Jupiter is very massive, it is the only planet (in our solar system) that has a center of mass with the Sun that lies outside the volume of the Sun. ([Source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_%28planet%29#Orbit_and_rotation))

If Jupiter was a star, they would form a « binary star ».

If the Sun was a planet, they would form a « double planet ».

Since the Sun is a star and Jupiter is a planet, does this have a particular name?

Does Jupiter have a special status or a particular effect in our solar system because of its heavy mass?

Since Jupiter-Sun's center of mass lies outside the volume of the Sun, that means that the Sun moves around that center of mass. Does this have an effect on Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars orbits?

**Tags:** the-sun, solar-system, jupiter

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: Systems composed of other objects besides stars are currently ill-defined. For example, Pluto-Charon should technically be a binary dwarf planet system, but it is yet to be recognized as such by the IAU.  
> **username_5**: I have problem understanding what the question is. Status as defined by whom and for what purpose?  
> **username_6**: `Since Jupiter-Sun's center of mass lies outside the volume of the Sun, that means that the Sun moves around that center of mass` All objects orbit at the barycenter between the two objects, not just Jupiter.  
> **username_0**: @username_5 username_4 cleverly renamed my question. I hope it's clearer.  
> **username_0**: @username_6 I know, but in this case, the center of mass is outside the Sun because Jupiter is very massive. Which make it a special case. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_planet#Center-of-mass_definition  
> **username_0**: @username_4 Thank you for this great comment which actually answer my question. And thank you for correcting my question :-)  
> **username_1**: Old question I realize but one problem with using barycenter outside/inside the larger objects radius is that things drift.   Our sun will grow larger, so does our definition of our solar system change as our sun gets bigger - that seems an awfully bad system to categorize with.   Our Moon is slowly drifting away from the earth and in a few billion years it might qualify as a joint system with a barycenter just outside earth (on average, given it will have an elliptic orbit).   Does it stop being a moon when that happens?   I think this is a mathematical trick more than a useful definition.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Thanks for this mathematical precision. And thanks for pointing that all these things evolve...  
> **username_2**: The Sun-Jupiter center of mass is always inside the Sun. The center of mass of the Sun with respect to the solar system barycenter can indeed be outside the Sun, but this requires Saturn or Uranus and Neptune to be in opposition with respect to Jupiter.  
> **username_3**: I just want to point out that we don’t call a single star system a “solar system.” That is just the name of our system. Multi-star systems are called “Star systems” or “Stellar systems,” while single star systems with planets are called “Planetary systems.” We are in a planetary system called the solar system because our one star is Sol (or the Sun).  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_10 on 2013-12-11. Score: 11 | Accepted answer

I'm not sure I understand your question entirely, but i'll do my best to offer a decent answer. It's true that the composition of Jupiter is very similar to that of the Sun (very similar approx. $H$ and $He$ abundance and pretty similar in density). The problem is that Jupiter is not nearly massive enough to have the internal pressure and temperature to undergo nuclear fusion. Jupiter doesn't have any particular special status aside from being the King of Planets in our solar system.

As for the last part of your question, all objects orbit around a center of mass. Though because the Sun is much more massive, the center of mass lies very close to the center of the star (except in the case of Jupiter, where the CoM lies outside of the sun and is approx the length of its radius). This is why all planets in our solar system orbit around the sun. This will indeed cause a slight perturbation of orbital alignment, but I don't believe it's significant.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I know, but in this case, the center of mass is outside the Sun because Jupiter is very massive. Which make it a special case. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_planet#Center-of-mass_definition Thank you for your answer.  
> **username_10**: You're right Jupiter is indeed the only exception (i'll go ahead and edit that in the answer just to be clear). Though the Sun is not a planet, so i'm not certain the double planet classification holds. Jupiter is also not a star from the reasons stated above so it's not a binary star system. I don't believe a special status name exists for this type of phenonmenon.  
> **username_9**: The dwarf planet Sedna orbits around the Sun-Jupiter barycenter, unlike the other planets who orbit the Sun directly.  

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### Answer by username_7 on 2013-12-14. Score: 6

No, it is not since Jupiter is not a star. We call the system of a star with its planets surrounding the center of mass a simply "solar System".


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### Answer by username_8 on 2013-12-12. Score: 5

The Sun burns hidrogen, so it is a star.

Jupiter does not, so it is not a star. Not even a brown dwarf.

Since a non-star body orbits a star, it is a planet, a dwarf planet or an asteroid/comet. Since Jupiter has cleared his orbit, it is a planet.

Why do I say that Jupiter orbits a star? This is where I go to the center of your question.

The orbit of the Sun around the galactic center is (more or less) a circle. If you draw Jupiter's orbit around the galactic center it has some retrogradations and is not always convex.

> **Comments:**
> **username_9**: Jupiter hasn't "cleared its orbit". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_trojan  

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