what is the exact time does the earth have left before the sun is to explode?

Answer 1

The sun will not explode—in the conventional sense—and be destroyed in the process.

When the Sun runs out of nuclear fuel in its core (center), its core will contract—while the outer layers will expand, engulfing the inner planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and maybe Mars. The outer planets will likely survive this part, but later the Sun will undergo a rapid, explosive loss of its outer layers, which may destroy the outer planets as well. This is all scheduled to occur approximately five billion years from now. Never will the Sun lose enough mass to actually lose its gravitational grip on the planets, or the majority of the material that is in the planets (some of the "explosion" may push out some of the material).

Answer 2

Why are people (I think kids, mostly) obssessed with something that is not going to happen for billions of years.

Is it that they have no concept of a billion? If that is the case, let me put it in perspective. Take your lifetime - hopefully, you will live to 100. The 5 billion years that astronomers estimate for the continuing life of the sun, represents 50 million of your lifetimes.

Civilisation has flourished for just 50 lifetimes. So, civilisation could play out 1 million times over before the sun dies.

I would say there are are billion things more worrisome in life than the end of the sun. Wouldn't you?

PS - the answer above is unfounded. The sun has been stable for billions of years, and there is no evidence at all it will expand to dangerous levels in 100,000 years. That is garbage.

Answer 3

Exact time, you mean to the date?

First, the sun will not explode (its not massive enough to explode as a nova or supernova).

In about 3-4 billion years it will expand into a red giant, puffing off up to about 10% of its mass into a gas cloud and forming a planetary nebula). Another few million years later it will expand again, even larger and puff off more mass.
Eventually, it will shrink down to a white dwarf and start to cool off (that could take another couple of billion years to cool off to a black dwarf).

Second, billions of years in the future means its a little hard to pin down a date.

Answer 4

The Sun is not going to explode. Ever. It's not massive enough. In about 4.5 billion years, it will run out of fuel and enter a red giant phase, expanding to many times it's current radius and engulfing the Earth.

Answer 5

The sun is middle aged which is about 4.5 to five billion years old. the ycan calculate this by doing a spectral analysis of the sun's light to find what elements are in the star. even right down to the heavier ones.

Answer 6

The sun is not expected to explode, but to EXPAND, to our area and possibly beyound.

Uranus or Pluto might end up and being a LIFE POSSIBLE planet as a result of this.

Then the sun will contract and die out.

Answer 7

Sun is half way through and will be there for another 5 billion years.

Answer 8

Sorry, nobody has that answer. I know they predict that within 100,000 years the sun will have expanded enough that life on earth will be wiped out, and I think I heard somewhere that it will go nova in about 6 million years, but don't look for a date to put in your blackberry!

Answer 9

Supposedly many, many years fron now. I wouldn`t worry about it.

Answer 10

A couple of minutes. Run like hell.