How And When Will the Sun Die? Here's Everything You Need To Know

The sun will not live forever. Like all stars, even the sun has a lifecycle that will eventually lead to its end.

The sun is a star formed about 4.6 billion years ago. Have you ever wondered will the sun die? Like all stars, even the sun has a lifecycle that will eventually lead to its end. The sun will not live forever. In the very distant future, it will grow into a red giant and then shrink into a white dwarf. About 1.1 Billion years from now, the sun will start to get hotter and larger. Over the next 2 Billion years, the earth’s ice caps will melt, the earth will get hotter, the oceans will boil away to space and life will cease to exist, according to NASA. Eventually, as the sun gets redder, hotter, and closer, the mountains will start to melt. When the sun reaches the end of its life, it will go through the stages given below.

Beginning

The sun was formed about 4.6 billion years ago from a spinning cloud of gas and dust called the solar nebula. Once a star begins to form a nebula is considered a solar nebula. Solar nebula is also used to refer specifically to the cloud of gas and dust that formed the sun. However, more generally a solar nebula is a cloud of gas and dust that has begun star formation. 

Red Giant Phase

A red giant phase forms after a star has run out of hydrogen fuel for nuclear fusion, and has begun the process of dying, as per NASA. When the sun expands, its outer layers will consume Mercury and Venus which will also reach Earth. In approximately five billion years, our sun will transition to the red giant phase.

The White Dwarf

A white dwarf is what stars like the sun become after they have exhausted their nuclear fuel. Near the end of its nuclear burning stage, this type of star expels most of its outer material, creating a planetary nebula. Over the years, the white dwarf will gradually cool and dim turning into a cold, dark object known as a black dwarf. 

Final Stage

The lifecycle of the sun will transition from its current state to a red giant phase, followed by shedding its outer layer and leaving behind a white dwarf. The white dwarf will cool down and fade away with time marking the end of the sun's life.

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