B What would happen if the Sun collided with a similar star?

[GiantSheeps]

What would happen if the Sun collided with an exact copy of itself? I can't find any information online about this exact scenario. So what would happen to the Sun? What would happen to the Earth and the rest of the planets?

Any information or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

 

[berkeman]

I can't find any information online

I did a Google search on:

When stars collide

and got lots of good hits, including a Wikipedia article. Have you already been through that hit list?

 

[GiantSheeps]

I did a Google search on:

When stars collide

and got lots of good hits, including a Wikipedia article. Have you already been through that hit list?

Yeah I have and there isn't very much on two sun-like stars colliding, and i couldn't find anything on how it would effect the Earth of our own Sun was one of the involved stars.

 

[anorlunda]

It would depend on velocities and on how direct/glancing the collision was. Two stars might merge or they might not. Ditto for the planets, effects range from minimal to destruction depending on the velocity and angle of the second star, plus the direct hit/glancing hit extent of a collision.

I don't see any significant difference between two sun-size stars or two exact copies.

 

[GiantSheeps]

It would depend on velocities and on how direct/glancing the collision was. Two stars might merge or they might not. Ditto for the planets, effects range from minimal to destruction depending on the velocity and angle of the second star, plus the direct hit/glancing hit extent of a collision.

I don't see any significant difference between two sun-size stars or two exact copies.

If they don't merge, would they just explode?

 

[jim mcnamara]

Try the term 'stellar collision'
I get hundreds of hits, plus graphics.
start:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_collision

Before you go off the deep end with suppositions, these collisions probably happen in binary (or more start systems). Earth's nearest neighbor star is is Proxima centauri, about 4.25 light years away. In miles that is 2,498,400,000,000 miles away. Average distance of nearby stars - a gross estimate is 6.3 light years apart. Absurdly far away to worry about right now.

@GiantSheeps please do some reading before you ask more questions. A lot of what you asked is explained in the article I linked.