scientists who dedicate themselves to the study of the mysteries that the cosmos hides, they know that our massive star, the Sun, has an expiration date. Research on stars that are light-years away offers a glimpse about what the future holds for us as a Solar System.
Our sun is going to explodeOf that there seems to be no doubt. However, there is a long way to go for this to happen. Not an immediate threat according to the calculations of a scientific team led by the renowned astronomer Cristian Giuponne.
In FayerWayer we have previously talked about the explosion of massive stars in the universe.
It is a phenomenon known as a supernova and it leaves a visual spectacle in the sky for those who see it from a sufficient distance to avoid being hit by this expulsion of energy.
In theory, it will also happen to our Sun. When? A study of a massive star similar to our own, some 12,000 light-years away, offers insight that allows scientists to calculate our doom.
We are barely going for half the life of the Sun
The massive star we orbit is only halfway through its life. The Sun is a type G star and it is estimated that it will continue to provide us with energy for a few more billion years. The study finds that the supernova explosion will occur within five billion years.
For this fact estimate it is presumed that our star will exhaust its supply of hydrogen in its core and start fusing helium instead of hydrogen. This stage is known as the main sequence and will mark the beginning of a different evolutionary phase for the Sun.
Will that be the end of the Earth?
The truth is that by that stage, there will be no Earth to witness the explosion of the Sun in a supernova. Before this the star will become a red giant. This phenomenon will cause it to swallow the inner planets, in which the Earth is included.
Eventually, after a period of several hundred million years as a red giant, the Sun will shed its outer layers and become a white dwarf. Then it is that the cooling process will begin to later implode.