What will happen when our sun dies?

[Still Waters]

Scientists agree the sun will die in approximately 10 billion years, but they weren't sure what would happen next... until now.

A team of international astronomers, including Professor Albert Zijlstra from the University of Manchester, predict it will turn into a massive ring of luminous, interstellar gas and dust, known as a planetary nebula.

A planetary nebula marks the end of 90% of all stars active lives and traces the star's transition from a red giant to a degenerate white dwarf. But, for years, scientists weren't sure if the sun in our galaxy would follow the same fate: it was thought to have too low mass to create a visible planetary nebula.

https://phys.org/news/2018-05-sun-dies.html

[Jon the frog]

So tiny and futile we are...

[RoofGardener]

16 hours ago, Still Waters said:

Scientists agree the sun will die in approximately 10 billion years, but they weren't sure what would happen next.........

One thing's for sure... it would FINALLY shut up all the "Man Made Global Warming" people. 

Well... PROBABLY, anyway. 

[paperdyer]

1 hour ago, RoofGardener said:

One thing's for sure... it would FINALLY shut up all the "Man Made Global Warming" people. 

Well... PROBABLY, anyway. 

Yeah - They'll find some way to blame it on humans like we used too much sunshine.  At least we have enough advanced warning.  Better start planning to leave now!  By the time all the money gets appropriated. we'll barely have enough time to get off.  Al least when it's over, the new super highway can come through.

 

[MainerMikeBrown]

Years ago I told a friend of mine about what astronomers think will happen to the sun when it starts to die.  I told him that the sun will expand in size and swallow up the inner planets, including Earth.

He didn't believe me.

[pallidin]

I can stop building my Sun apocalypse shelter.

Thank you, it was getting expensive...

[Seti42]

Trolls or ignorant? The comments here disturb me, as I like science.

[psyche101]

I thought the sun had 5 billion years left, not ten? Ate they including expansion, collapse and nebulae formation all up? 

[danydandan]

I agree I thought the sun would die in 5 billion years but we can only occupy the Earth for 1 billion years more.

[LV-426]

On 07/05/2018 at 8:54 PM, Still Waters said:

to a degenerate white dwarf

Also know in scientific parlance as a "Tyrion"

[psyche101]

12 hours ago, danydandan said:

I agree I thought the sun would die in 5 billion years but we can only occupy the Earth for 1 billion years more.

Yeah, that's my understanding, but I thought we had 2 billion years till the critical phase where we must evacuate or die. Either way I'm not sure who these scientists are saying the sun will last another ten billion, maybe our learned mod @Waspie_Dwarfwho understands these terms way better than I do could shed some light on this conundrum? 

[pallidin]

Well, one thing's for certain... humans best be good at extra-solar travel and colonization before then, else we're toast.

[pallidin]

Hopefully the "powers that be" won't nuke, gas, or weapon-biologically screw the entire world before we can develop the necessary technologies to colonize beyond our solar system.

[SmartAZ]

You can not rely on predictions of the future from people who can't even get the present straight. They assume the sun is powered by fusion, which implies the inside is hotter than the outside, and the reverse is true. Anybody who points that out gets personal insults in return.

Scientists would rather be wrong than uncertain.

[psyche101]

3 minutes ago, SmartAZ said:

You can not rely on predictions of the future from people who can't even get the present straight. They assume the sun is powered by fusion, which implies the inside is hotter than the outside, and the reverse is true. Anybody who points that out gets personal insults in return.

How do you come to this conclusion? 

3 minutes ago, SmartAZ said:

Scientists would rather be wrong than uncertain.

That's not my experience 

[pallidin]

The Sun is powered by fusion.

That's a common fact.

What else could all the stars in our universe be powered by?

Edited May 15, 2018 by pallidin

[danydandan]

On 14/5/2018 at 4:23 AM, SmartAZ said:

You can not rely on predictions of the future from people who can't even get the present straight. They assume the sun is powered by fusion, which implies the inside is hotter than the outside, and the reverse is true. Anybody who points that out gets personal insults in return.

Scientists would rather be wrong than uncertain.

I'm pretty sure the Nanoflares paper cleared it up nicely.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

On 5/14/2018 at 4:23 AM, SmartAZ said:

You can not rely on predictions of the future from people who can't even get the present straight. They assume the sun is powered by fusion, which implies the inside is hotter than the outside, and the reverse is true. Anybody who points that out gets personal insults in return.

On 5/14/2018 at 4:27 AM, psyche101 said:

How do you come to this conclusion?

He's come to that conclusion by hugely misinterpreting a single fact.

The fact: the temperature of the solar photosphere is around 6,000^oC, As you move away from the photosphere into the corona the temperature rises to several million ^oC. This rise in temperature is not fully understood.

The misinterpretation: The photosphere is the visible surface of the sun, the corona is the very tenuous atmosphere above the photosphere. The outside of the sun IS NOT hotter than the inside. As already pointed out the surface of the sun is only 6,000^oC. The core of the sun is at 15 MILLION^oC, considerably hotter than even the corona.

I also suspect that SmartAZ doesn't know the difference between heat and temperature.

[danydandan]

On 16/5/2018 at 9:31 PM, Waspie_Dwarf said:

He's come to that conclusion by hugely misinterpreting a single fact.

The fact: the temperature of the solar photosphere is around 6,000^oC, As you move away from the photosphere into the corona the temperature rises to several million ^oC. This rise in temperature is not fully understood.

The misinterpretation: The photosphere is the visible surface of the sun, the corona is the very tenuous atmosphere above the photosphere. The outside of the sun IS NOT hotter than the inside. As already pointed out the surface of the sun is only 6,000^oC. The core of the sun is at 15 MILLION^oC, considerably hotter than even the corona.

I also suspect that SmartAZ doesn't know the difference between heat and temperature.

I think the SI units you used are incorrect, I think you mean Kelvin not Degrees Celsius ?

So traveling outwards from the Core, which 15.7 million degree Kelvin, then the Radiative Zone, which is between 2 and 7 million degree Kelvin, then the Convection Zone which is less that 2 million degree Kelvin, then finally the Photosphere 5778 degree Kelvin.

I think most people who think the inside of the sun is cooler than the outside if the Sun have no clue what the difference between temperature and heat is.

So for anyone who doesn't understand heat is the transfer of energy from a hotter system to a cooler system/s that are in contact. Temperature is the average kenetic energy of atoms and molecules in a system. Heat is both a process quantity, as in it is defined by the context of process if how energy can be transferred, and an extensive property, which means the changes in tempetature in a system as a result of heat transferred to that system depends on how many molecules are in that system, and temperature is an intensive property, which means the temperature doesn't change no matter how much of a substance you have. They each have different units defining them, heat has Joules, and temperature has Celsius, Fahrenheit or Kelvin.

Edited May 17, 2018 by danydandan

[Waspie_Dwarf]

8 hours ago, danydandan said:

I think the SI units you used are incorrect, I think you mean Kelvin not Degrees Celsius ?

Nit picking. With temperatures this high it makes no practical difference. 

[danydandan]

1 minute ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

Nit picking. With temperatures this high it makes no practical difference. 

Just spreading the love.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Just now, danydandan said:

Just spreading the love.

Really. Try spreading factually correct love.

[danydandan]

29 minutes ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

Really. Try spreading factually correct love.

I am hence the SI corrections.

Edit: In retrospect, I must apologise as the difference between Kelvins and Celsius is negligible at these temperatures, as you stated and what I was doing was nitpicking. But it wasn't meant that way.

So humblest apologies.

Edited May 18, 2018 by danydandan