How long would it take the Sun to become a white dwarf?

How long would it take the Sun to become a white dwarf?

about 10 billion years
“The sun itself will become a crystal white dwarf in about 10 billion years.”

How does a red giant form into a white dwarf?

When a star of less than about 8 solar masses runs out of hydrogen in its core, the mainly helium core collapses and heats up. When it gets hot enough fusion reactions start in the layer of hydrogen surrounding the core. This causes the outer layers of the star to expand into a red giant. The star is now a white dwarf.

How long do we have until our Sun becomes a red giant star?

Roughly 5 billion years
A: Roughly 5 billion years from now, the Sun will exhaust the hydrogen fuel in its core and start burning helium, forcing its transition into a red giant star. During this shift, its atmosphere will expand out to somewhere around 1 astronomical unit — the current average Earth-Sun distance.

Will the Sun become a black dwarf?

As a red giant, the Sun will eventually burn not only hydrogen, but also helium. So, the Sun won’t become a black dwarf for trillions of years — and, in fact, no black dwarfs exist yet, simply because the universe has not been around long enough to allow even the earliest stars to reach this stage.

Can the Sun become black?

No. Stars like the Sun just aren’t massive enough to become black holes. Instead, in several billion years, the Sun will cast off its outer layers, and its core will form a white dwarf – a dense ball of carbon and oxygen that no longer produces nuclear energy, but that shines because it is very hot.

Will the Sun stop burning?

Astronomers estimate that the sun has about 7 billion to 8 billion years left before it sputters out and dies. Humanity may be long gone by then, or perhaps we’ll have already colonized another planet.

What if our sun went supernova?

If the Sun went supernova it would have a much more dramatic effect. We would have no ozone. With no ozone, skin-cancer cases would skyrocket. All living things would suffer from severe radiation burns, unless they were underground or in protective suits.