In about 5 billion more years, the Sun will not be seen as we know it, since, like all things, the star’s days are numbered and it will eventually cease to exist. Celestial bodies like the Sun are not inexhaustible sources of energy and depend on the chemical elements that, inside, produce the necessary reactions to make it look like the star we know today.
What will the death of the Sun be like?
This star formed billions of years ago from two primordial gases, helium and hydrogen. In the core, the hydrogen atoms converge, which through the process of fusion of their nuclei produce helium and heat energy, which is expelled to the outside.
Believe it or not, the Sun is not made of fire. Its energy comes from nuclear fusion in its core, where the temperature exceeds 15 million degrees and the pressure is immense. For 8 billion years, the Sun will be in this stable stage, which is how we know it today. But the hydrogen reserves in the core will begin to decline and helium will accumulate in its center, surrounded by a layer of molten hydrogen.
Over time, gravity will do its thing, and the elements at the center of the star will compress. These will become denser, while the outer gas layers will expand. That will be the point where the Sun will become a red giant star.
What is a supernova?
During this period, the star will not only increase in physical size, it will also turn red and become much brighter. As the concentration of helium increases, heavier elements, such as oxygen and carbon, will appear with its fusion. Once the helium reserves run out, gravity will further compress the elements, reducing them in size and becoming a white dwarf.
These will be the last gasps for a star that is not massive enough to explode into a supernova and eventually become a black hole, as other stellar bodies in the galaxy have.
And what will happen to Earth?
The planet we inhabit will not be able to witness the entire process of stellar death, since only in the first few billion years will the Sun destroy it completely. It is that when the red giant begins to expand, the first bodies of the system that surround it will be completely disintegrated. It is estimated that the new Sun will reach the current orbit of Mars, so the Earth has no chance of survival.
But do not worry about it; scientists estimate that humans will not survive to witness the fateful end. It is that humanity would not be able to withstand the previous changes in the temperature of the Sun.
As they explain to us in The Conversation, before becoming a red giant, the star will increase its luminosity by 10% with the passing of every billion years and, with it, the temperature that the surrounding planets will receive will increase. Consequently, long before the red giant absorbs or disintegrates the Earth, the water on the planet’s surface will evaporate and with it the human race will become extinct.
