The sun was born about 4.6 billion years ago. The sun is quite young, especially considering the lengthy lives of some celestial bodies. Sun is a’ main sequence “star,” meaning it’s the most steady-state. This phase will last for several million years, however, humans aren’t likely to remain here long enough to watch the earth get old.
If we hadn’t established colonies on other planets in the near future, we’d be dead because the sun is likely to devour the earth as it reaches the point of death.
What is the method we used to determine the solar age?
The solar age was calculated by using radioactive dating for solar objects. Simply stated, radioactive dating compares between the age and age range of one parent element with the daughter elements (the decayed elements). Comparing the age of the parent and child will give the decay constant. It can be used to determine the current age of the celestial body.
To calculate the proportion of the element as well as the decayed product that it produces We need samples. Since the majority part of our solar system created at the same time frame, scientists have employed moon rock samples in order to determine the age of the other solar bodies. The age of the sun was calculated by using moon rocks!
How do you think will last?
It’s over 10 billion years and yet Earth will not be able to witness its demise! The sun, just like every normal star, has a predictable life cycle. It is born, and then transforms into a protestor, and gradually expands until it becomes the red giant. After about a million years, the sun has shed its outer layers, becoming a planetary Nebula. What remains after these layers have been blown off is an unidentified White dwarf that will eventually cool.
The sun is currently a middle-aged main-sequence sun, which is its most stable phase. However, it is likely to be transformed into an icy white dwarf.
What happens to the sun when it dies?
Stars use hydrogen fuel to power their core. This creates an atmosphere of tension (outward pulling force) which balances gravitational force (inward pull force). If all hydrogen is depleted by the nuclear fusion that occurs in the core it is a discordance in forces. Because of this, the outer layer of the star starts to expand and then cool since there isn’t any nuclear fusion. This is known as the giant phase that is red in the star. The expansion could eventually take over the planets in the inner regions and could even consume Earth as well!
In the center of a giant red, the helium expands due to its weight, and it increases the temperature of the core and causes the fusion process of the element carbon. Once the helium has been consumed the core begins to collapse again however this time there’s not enough temperature to stop fusion in the center. Therefore, the star expands and eventually sheds all of its layers. The layers that are released by the star make up the planetary Nebula.
When all layers have been eliminated The core is left, which is known as the white dwarf. This white dwarf, which is the final stage in the evolution of the star gets cool down until it becomes the black dwarf.
