how many more years will the sun last?

Answer 1

The Sun is about 4.6 billion years old and is about halfway through its main-sequence evolution, during which nuclear fusion reactions in its core fuse hydrogen into helium. Each second, more than 4 million tonnes of matter are converted into energy within the Sun's core, producing neutrinos and solar radiation.

In about 5 billion years, the Sun will evolve into a red giant and then a white dwarf, creating a planetary nebula in the process.

The Sun is a magnetically active star; it supports a strong, changing magnetic field that varies year-to-year and reverses direction about every eleven years. The Sun's magnetic field gives rise to many effects that are collectively called solar activity, including sunspots on the surface of the Sun, solar flares, and variations in the solar wind that carry material through the solar system. The effects of solar activity on Earth include auroras at moderate to high latitudes, and the disruption of radio communications and electric power. Solar activity is thought to have played a large role in the formation and evolution of the solar system, and strongly affects the structure of Earth's outer atmosphere.

Although it is the nearest star to Earth and has been intensively studied by scientists, many questions about the Sun remain unanswered, such as why its outer atmosphere has a temperature of over a million K while its visible surface (the photosphere) has a temperature of less than 6,000 K. Current topics of scientific inquiry include the sun's regular cycle of sunspot activity, the physics and origin of solar flares and prominences, the magnetic interaction between the chromosphere and the corona, and the origin of the solar wind.

Answer 2

The sun will be on the main sequence another five billion years. Earth will be uninhabitable in only two billion years. The reason is that the sun, even while it is on the main sequence, slowly increases it's luminous power. The amount of radiation that the sun emits increases by about ten percent per billion years.

One billion years from now, all continental interiors will be barren deserts, worse than the Sahara in the summer today. All life will be confined to the sea or along strips of land near the coasts. There might be some mountaintop oasis or underground refuges, but I wouldn't count on it.

Two billion years from today, the oceans will begin to evaporate, and the runaway greenhouse effect will cook whatever life remains.

Answer 3

About 5 billion years.

Based on the mass of the Sun (which basically tells us how much hydrogen it has available for fusion), we can estimate how long it will live… Turns out it’s something like 10 billion years. After that, it will run out of fuel and become a white dwarf (perhaps producing a planetary nebula in the process, although that’s increasingly uncertain). It’s not quite massive enough to go supernova—which is a good thing, because stars that have enough mass to die in supernovae don’t live nearly as long as the Sun.

Since the Sun and Earth formed at roughly the same time, we can use our estimates for the age of Earth—about 4.6 billion years—to determine that the Sun is about halfway through its life cycle.


Ryan Wyatt
Rose Center for Earth & Space
New York, New York

Answer 4

5 billion years.

it is currently half way through it's life as a main sequence star, and so has 5 billion years left to burn. THen it will start some sort of fusion of helium, or whatever, and will get even hotter, and expand, swallowing the first three or four planets (maybe more). It is now a red giant. It will then shrink back down in to a white dwarf, giving of a fraction of the energy it does now (not enough for us to live on, even if we hadn't just been swallowed) and then it becomes a black dwarf.

So, about 5 billion years, give or take.

Answer 5

The sun consists of H which is changed to helium.After 10 million years,the H will be used up &the sun will change to a red
giant,a white dwarf and vanish & so will you

Answer 6

It will last pretty much forever as long as it doesn't merge with another sun or a black hole. It will just get big and red in 5 billion years or so, then little and white and then little and dark.

Answer 7

I'm Blowing it Out Next Week.. I Got a Giant Fan In The Desert Pointing Right at it.. "Lights Out Kiddies"

Answer 8

estimated 2 billion plus or minus several 100million.
not an exact science?

Answer 9

lox of years i read it somewhere....we don't have to worry cuz i tink the sun will last more than earth so we r gonna die anywayz
lol

Answer 10

a few billion years ... it's a main-sequence star with a serval billin year life span