• Question: will the sun ever die?

    Asked by kayleigh99 to Amy, Karen, Sarah, Vijay, Will on 18 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by aleciak.
    • Photo: Will Reynolds

      Will Reynolds answered on 18 Jun 2012:

      Hi Kayleigh. Yes it will …. but not for another 5 billion years. It is burning via a process called nuclear fusion, in which two hydrogen atoms fuse together to make helium. When the hydrogen runs out it will die 🙁

    • Photo: Sarah Martin

      Sarah Martin answered on 20 Jun 2012:

      Hi Kayleigh,

      But first it will turn into a large red giant star and swallow up most of the solar system before collapsing. It’sll be quite dramatic, and hopefully humans will be a long long way away by then!
      Here’s a video simulation of what might happen:

      🙂 Sarah

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