Follow
For decades, astronomers have hypothesized what would happen once the sun will inevitably die out. Having this purpose in mind, a team of scientists have watched the star and stared right into it. What they obtained satisfied them because they came up with a model that can predict the lifecycle of a star. In comparison with many other stars in the universe, our sun has a medium size, even among other yellow dwarf stars. This made experts wonder whether or not its size would trigger a different behavior once it dies out.
Their model was based off updated calculations related to the mass of the stars. This is how the team figured out that the sun is big enough to act in a similar manner to other stars when they die. This means that once it’s gone, the sun will transform into a bright ring of cosmic dust. This is what usually happens with all medium-sized stars when they die. They go through a process of extreme loss of mass. So, from the star’s core, a so-called “superwind” effect pushes large amounts of cosmic dust outward. The result is a very bright ring around itself.
What will happen with the sun once it dies out?
After this incredible process, the former star enters a 10,000-year cooling phase. Once that stage is done, it eventually disappears completely. According to a study which the journal Nature Astronomy recently published, out sun will most likely follow the same process after it dies.
This study adds more proof to a theory that experts have debated upon for about 25 years. Some said that the sun’s eventual ring of dust would not even be visible. Thanks to this new study, we now know that its ring will be visible because the sun it’s big enough to follow the same process.
Image source: wikimedia
