Is it conclusively proven that the Sun will become a red giant in 5,000,000,000 years?

Question

Could there be a flaw in this accepted wisdom or an alternate theory that would give the Sun a different fate than going giant in 5 gigayears

Answer 1

Based on the known physics of stellar evolution and our knowledge of the mass, size and age of our sun it is almost certain that it will become a red giant in about that time span.It is likely, since its mass is below the Chandrasekhar limit that it will then settle down to be a white dwarf, further degeneration being prevented by the Pauli Exclusion Principle so that it will not become a neutron star,a pulsar or a black hole.

Answer 2

A lot of information is being published these days, and while Wike is a neat site, some of its information is a bit tilted by language usage. In about 5 Billion Years the Sun will exhaust all of its supplies of hydrogen gas. That projection is based upon the present estimated consumption of hydrogen. After all the hydrogen is used up, the tremendous heat will continue and the Sun will begin fusing helium gas into other compounds. I have not heard anyone say what those elements might be. Right now it is fusing hydrogen into helium. It could be that the definitions Red Giant and White Dwarf are causing you the problem. I highly recommend that you take a look at the book "300 Astronomical Objects" by Jamie Wilkins, and Robert Dunn. On page 268 they have a section on Stellar Classification with a chart and a diagram of the different size stars and their various brightness (luminosity). Stars are classified as "O, B, A, F, G, K, and M." Sorry that the order is not alphabetical... Anyhow, the Sun is a "G" class star and in its "Main Sequence." It is not a white dwarf, nor is it a Red Giant as Wilkins and Dunn's diagrams and charts show. Antares and Aldebaran are Red Giants, 500 times bigger than the Sun, but fairly cool (relatively speaking) and less dense. . Algol is also a Main Sequence Star 7 times bigger than the Sun and 100 times brighter. Stars such as Sirius B are small, hot, faint stars kinown as White Dwarfs. To help you out, Sirius B is much smaller than the Sun. If you can, try to get ahold of this book, or an equivalent. you will gain a better knowledge of the issue then. Trust the book, not Wiki, and rumors from people who know a few cool words. Regards, Zah

Answer 3

I doubt it's proven conclusively, but scientists have been observing it and other stars for years and years. They have the life cycle of a star pretty well mapped out, with all the reactions at each stage. The amount of a given element in a star determines its age also, so using the life cycle, and determining the composition of the sun using spectroscopy, they have a very good idea how old the sun is and how long it's got left!

Answer 4

Ivan R - the universe is estimated to be around 14 billion years old not 200 billion, and the Earth is only a sprightly 4.5 billion years old.

There may be a flaw in this theory but its unlikely, by studying stars of similar size and composition we can be pretty sure this is the fate of our star. No need to worry though (I think), our knowledge of evolution would indicate that humans will be long extinct by then.

Answer 5

Hello,

(ANS) Our sun & universe were created from a singularity event called the Big Bang. That event took place 200 billion years ago. The earth itself formed some 60-70 billion years ago.

**Currently its been calculated by cosmologists & scientists that our sun is nothing more than an ordinary star. Just like millions of others out there in the universe. Right now our sun is just middle aged, its about roughly half way through its life cycle before it runs out of its nuclear fuel.

**RELAX!! the sun has another 200 billion years of life remaining before it becomes a red giant. Before it finally dies by either swelling up before finally exploding into a super nova or imploding into a super dense dead dark object.

Ivan

Answer 6

Since it is based on star life cycle theory, there is always a chance that new evidence will come along that will change it. Theories are never written in stone.

Also, the star life cycle theory is based on probabilities and thus these durations cannot be given with more precision than about a billion years or so.

As the theory improves, though, the precision will get better.

Answer 7

Yes! Its not wisdom its physics. The theory that describes stellar evolution has been derived from the fundamental laws of physics and the standard model. It has also been confirmed by astronomers observations.
Unless everything we know about the universe is wrong, I would say its a safe bet!

Answer 8

It's accepted wisdom because the sun is just a star like any number of other stars we see out in space. We observe how stars with mass & composition similar to our sun live their lifecycles, and assume our sun will behave the same way. There's no reason to think our star will behave any differently; there's nothing special about it.

Answer 9

It will bloat because it is using up all the helium and burn us to a crisp in the process . And yes it is inevitable.

Answer 10

That is a result of exact calculations. So it is time to pack your luggage ...?