• Question: will the sun eventually burn out?

    Asked by to Edward, Ian, Mathew, Naomi, sakshisharda on 24 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Sakshi Sharda

      Sakshi Sharda answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      Yes, the sun will eventually burn out. But not for a long, long time.

      The sun has used up about half of its hydrogen fuel in the last 4.5 billion years. It still has enough hydrogen to last about another 5 billion years.

    • Photo: Naomi Osborne

      Naomi Osborne answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      All stars including our sun have a limited lifetime – our sun is expected to die in about 7.5 billion years. When it does, it will balloon into a red giant engulfing our solar system before shrinking into a white dwarf. Life on Earth will end much sooner than that (but still billions of years away) when the sun heats up too much for life to survive.

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