How old is the sun and how old must it be to go nova?

Question

I know the universe is about 20 billion years old, and earth is about 4.5 billion years old, but how old is the sun and how old must a sun be in order to go nova?

Answer 1

The sun will never undergo the nova explosion.

The Sun is dated at 4.5 billion years old, satisfyingly close to the 4.56 billion year age of the Solar System as found from the study of meteorites.

A nova is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion caused by the accretion of hydrogen onto the surface of a white dwarf star.

The astronomer Tycho Brahe observed the supernova SN 1572 in the constellation Cassiopeia, and described it in his book de stella nova (Latin for concerning the new star), giving rise to the name NOVA.

INSTEAD this will happen to our sun:
In the next 1.1 billion years, its brightness will increase by 10%. This will super-heat our planet as a result of a severe greenhouse effect. All of the oceans on earth will boil away and all life will be destroyed.

In about 6.5 billion years, our sun will double in brightness and use up all of its supply of hydrogen fuel in its core. This will cause the sun to begin swelling as it uses hydrogen from the layers surrounding the core.

In about 8 billion years the sun will swell to 170 times its present size. This giant star will swallow up Mercury, Venus, and maybe even our Earth. Our sun will then be what scientists call a Red Giant because it will be very large and red in color.

After all hydrogen fuel is used, the sun will begin to use helium as its fuel. This fuel will burn very quickly and only last about 100 million years.

In about 12 billion years, the sun will eject much of its outer layers and become a smoldering, collapsed core that scientists would call a White Dwarf.

Hence, there DOESN'T ARISE A question of the SUN undergoing a NOVA.

Answer 2

The sun is only slightly older than the earth (the solar system formed at about the same time).

The average lifespan of a star the size of the sun is about 9 billion years, and the sun is about 4.6 billion years into that lifespan. So our sun has about another 4.5 billion years left in its lifespan.

At the end of that lifespan it will not go nova ... it doesn't have enough mass ... but will first expand (to just inside the earth's orbit, thus swallowing up Mercury and Venus) and then contract a few times before it finally goes dormant.

Answer 3

The sun is currently about 4.57 billion years old, in 4-5 billion years time it will expand and become a red giant, eventually becoming a white dwarf over a few more billion years.

The sun won't go nova as it lacks the neccessary mass for it to collapse on itself like larger stars, instead of going out with a bang it will fizzle out quietly...

Answer 4

The sun is about the same age as the Earth. The best estimates is that the Sun with burn hydrogen for 10 billion years before running out of fuel and eventually into red giant phase. the sun is not massive enough for it to go nova.

Answer 5

It still has a few stages to go.