Will the sun someday burn out?

Answer 1

There are some differing answers above so I will try to clarify and I'll cite some sources so you can check me.

The sun will not supernova, as someone claimed above. It will burn out though, just as you asked.

The correct time frame is about 5 billion years. It will take the sun that long to burn through its helium fuel supply.

When that happens the core of the sun will contract, and the outer layers will expand. At this time the sun will become a red giant and its surface area will expand so much that the inner planets - including the Earth - will be engulfed.

After that the outer layers will drift off into space, and the sun will become a planetary nebula.

After that phase, the sun will be a white dwarf, radiating only left over heat.

Eventually white dwarves loose all their heat and become black dwarves, cold and dark. However, this has never happened since the universe is not currently old enough for even the first stars to have cooled completely.

Will humans be around to worry about the death of the sun? It’s possible. We've only been around as a species for about 100,000 years and in that time we've gone from stone tools to New York City, space walks and the Internet. Who knows what will be possible after 50,000 times as long and our current technological base as a starting point. By then, maybe we can just engineer a new star for ourselves. It’s fun to think about.

Look here for more detail and some good graphics:


http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/sun/sundeath.shtml

- Cai

Answer 2

Yes..
The friendly yellow sun we know & love will become a red giant
in around 5 billion years and toast everything out to about the
earth orbit...That includes earth..
After that it will become a white or brown dwarf and last another
few billion years until if finally burns out and becomes a cold cinder
floating is space.
Don't worry, be happy...

Answer 3

in approximately 5 billion years, it somewhat is going to enter a pink enormous section, its outer layers increasing because of the fact the hydrogen gas contained in the middle is ate up and the middle contracts and heats up. Helium fusion will start up whilst the middle temperature reaches around a hundred million ok and could produce carbon, entering into the asymptotic enormous branch section. After that it will develop right into a White Dwarf and then finally a Black Dwarf in trillions of years whilst all attainable skill is used.

Answer 4

Yes. May be billions of years later.( Present age of sun is estimated to be 5000 million years and that of universe 13 billion years.)

Answer 5

yes, in a sense it will. in about 15 billion years the sun will have fused all its hydrogen into helium and will have to use the helium to keep the fusion process going. this will cause it to balloon and become a red giant, extending beyond the orbit of mars. it will then continue using up the hevier elements and, when it reaches iron, collapse into itself because fusin iron does not generate energy. it will then be a white dwarf, a burnt out star that will slowly cool and turn dark.

Answer 6

Someday but not in your lifetime and it our sun is too small to go Supernova It will just turn into a white Dwarf Star.

Answer 7

Yes, it will burn out. Unless it expands past it's gravitational pull, than it will explode and go into a supernova-- into a black hole. But that's only when the mass of a star is more dense than the limit. --There is a limit, but that's another story.

This will all happen in about another 5 thousand million years.. (Approximately 5 billion years).

--Rob :)~

Answer 8

Sun has completed its half of the life till now according to the estimates. 5 billion more years left. Then it will die. While dying it will expand and cover all the planets in its envelope. Finally, it will shrink and fade away. This is what i have read in books.

Answer 9

No

not burn out, it will Super Nova.

it will actually explode just after becoming increasingly rich in temparture.

Some say 3 to 5 thousand years from now our sun will Super Nova.

which means it will expand and exploded.

Answer 10

Yes it is going to. When the hydrogen and helium will finish it will stop burning. But not to worry it will be more than 5 million years after our time.