Astronomers Say Dying Sun Will Engulf Earth

iamlucky13 writes "A minor academic debate among astronomers is the final fate of the earth. As the sun ages and enters the red giant stage of its life, it will heat up, making the earth inhospitable. It will also expand, driven by helium fusion so that its outer layers reach past the earth's current orbit. Previously it had been believed that the sun would lose enough mass to allow earth to escape to a more distant orbit, lifeless but intact. However, new calculations, which take into account tidal forces and drag from mass shed by the sun, suggest that the earth will have sufficiently slowed in that time to be dragged down to its utter destruction in 7.6 billion years. "

Comments

Armageddon

[gummyb34r]

In 7.6 bln years time frame there is a 99.9 probability of a massive object hitting Earth and melting the outermost solid shell.

Re:Armageddon

[Bega]

Reminds me of this meteorite collision animation; not realistic, but interesting nonetheless.

Re:The Y7.6B Problem ...?

[tubapro12]

7.6 billion years? If people are still H. sapiens then it'll probably be throwing out some theories too, since current theories posits we were only minor fauna running around in the footprints of dinosaurs merely 80 million years ago.

Re:Seems easy enough.

[AKAImBatman]

Actually, jd is quite correct. Scientists have already been working out methods of moving the Earth should a climatic event threaten the livelihood of the human race. The Earth may be big, but there are no forces that prevent it from moving. Intentionally toss a few rocks past it, and the gravitational pull will slowly accelerate the Earth out of its current orbit.

Despite the fact that we only have 7.6 billion years to get the computations correct, I have a feeling that we'll be able to get it done right by then. (Either that or evacuate our Dyson Sphere. Whichever comes first.)

Re:Interesting Note

[benthurston27]

"will come as a thief in the night" seems to suggest some element of surprise but several billion years of advance warning seems sufficient to not be surprised. But on another note is this what particularly morbid scientists do with their intellectual time or does it just seem that way to me?

Re:I don't believe it.

[Golden Section]

> someone will do something crazy or stupid and destroy the entire planet.

Panel member: If you were to meet these Vegans, and were permitted only one question to ask of them, what would it be?

Ellie Arroway: Well, I suppose it would be, how did you do it? How did you evolve, how did you survive this technological adolescence without destroying yourself?

Re:Seems easy enough.

[Enrique1218]

Will we also have figured out how reignite the Earth's core when all the radioactive elements decay in 1 billion years.The dyanmo will shutdown, the stellar wind will erode the atmosphere, and the Earth will look like Mars. Either we are going to need a really big cyclotron or collect uranium from a really big supernova.