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Will the Sun ever die?
The Sun is about 4.6 billion years old – gauged on the age of other objects in the Solar System that formed around the same time. Based on observations of other stars, astronomers predict it will reach the end of its life in about another 10 billion years.
How will the Sun’s life end?
Once its supply of hydrogen is exhausted, the final, dramatic stages of its life will unfold, as our host star expands to become a red giant and then tears its body to pieces to condense into a white dwarf. Then, it will shrink down to a tiny, extremely dense white dwarf star, about Earth-size.
Why does the Sun never burn out?
The sun does not run out of oxygen for the simple fact that it does not use oxygen to burn. The burning of the sun is not chemical combustion. It is nuclear fusion. At the same time, hydrogen atoms in the fuel bond with oxygen atoms to make water molecules.
What happens if the Sun dies?
Sirius is a binary star system, home to Sirius A (left), a main sequence star, and Sirius B (right), a white dwarf. Eventually, Sirius B will cool enough that it no longer gives off visible light, becoming a black dwarf. The same fate awaits the Sun trillions of years in the future.
How much longer will Earth last?
By that point, all life on Earth will be extinct. The most probable fate of the planet is absorption by the Sun in about 7.5 billion years, after the star has entered the red giant phase and expanded beyond the planet’s current orbit.
Can we survive without the Sun?
All plants would die and, eventually, all animals that rely on plants for food — including humans — would die, too. While some inventive humans might be able to survive on a Sun-less Earth for several days, months, or even years, life without the Sun would eventually prove to be impossible to maintain on Earth.
Every star you see in the sky, including the sun, will someday die. It’s best to get used to that idea now, before things start to get heavy. Thankfully, we’ve got a little bit of time. Our sun currently powers itself through the fusion of hydrogen into helium in its core.
Why do stars die and make new stars?
This is called a star going ‘nova’. This blasts out all of the material into space. It may take billions more years for all of that stuff to gather again to form a new nebula and then make new stars and eventually planets. Stars die – so that new suns and planets can be created.
What happens when a star can’t burn?
When a star can’t burn anymore, due to an iron core, it begins to collapse in on itself. Due to intense gravitational pull, in just a small amount of time it can shrink from the size of the earth to about 6 miles wide. The core continues to heat up to billions of degrees until it finally explodes.
Why is the sun so important to Earth?
The sun gives energy to life on Earth, and without this star, we wouldn’t be here. But like most things in space, even stars have limited lifetimes, and someday our sun will die.