No, this is not another global warming article -well, not the current global warming, anyway, but the ultimate global warming: the end of our sun, and life on Earth as we know it!
You may remember learning about the lifecycle of a star in 6th grade Earth Science. You also may have been subsequently disappointed to learn that our sun, as magnificient and life-giving as it is, is doomed to end in a less-than-dramatic fashion - instead of an amzing supernova explosion, it will become a red giant, burn off the bulk of its mass in a last-gasp effort of nuclear fusion, and finally fade away from a white dwarf to a black dwarf - a celestial whisper instead of a bang.
Scientists have long estimated that the sun (and solar sytem) were roughly 5 billion years old, and the sun middel-aged, giving roughly 5 billion years before it dies out. Now scientists Robert Smith, from Britain's University of Sussex, and astronomer Klaus-Peter Schroeder of the University of Guanajuato in Mexico have made new calculations prediciting the end of the Sun 7.6 billions years from now.
"After a billion years or so [when the Sun begins it's expansion to a red giant] you've got an Earth with no atmosphere, no water and a surface temperature of hundreds of degrees, way above the boiling point of water," Smith told Space.com. "The Earth will become dry basically. It will become completely impossible for life of any kind to exist. It's a pretty gloomy forecast."
Read the original MSNBC article here. To see another article about an extrasolar planet currently undergoing this scenario, read here. To refresh your memories about the lifecycle of a star with interactive activities, click here.
15 comments:
This talk of Earth being destroyed and humans going extict is sorta depressing, even if it wont happen for another few billion years. Anyway, I think it will almost undoubtably happen. I mean, the Earth just can't last forever. That plot about people using an asteroid or something to push the Earth out of the way seems whack. Besides, like the article said, I dont think humans will even be around by the time all this happens. So yeah, the article was still interesting to read.
Nathan N.
I'm glad i won't be living when this happends! The sun can't last forever. However, I hypothesize that in billions of years others will find out how to live in outerspace or on a different planet. Yeah, I think I sound stupid, but our technology improves every day. By this time, people may not have anything to worry about. It is still scary to read though.
--Kelly =]
yea, once again we are all gonig to die eventually! like hear about all these other stars just dying. Our sun is a star so its gonig to die. But yea i am very glad that i will die before all of this happens. Just think about the panic of all the people will all of a sudden it gets really dark and cold. yea, that would stink. But i dont think this will happen for a while, and our scientist will probaly have come up witha way to live some where other then earth. I am not at all worried about our Earth dying.
courtney sutter :)
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i agree with nathan, it is depressing, but i still am not too worried about it. cuz i mean it will not be any time soon...but it will affect my ancestors. that is the sad thing. i could not imagine what a scary death that would be: to see the world burn the whole world you lived on. i mean that will be the center of attention to the angels in heaven, they will all sadly look down and watch the world that they lived on and raised their kids on...i can't mention it but it would be awful!!!
=) Lindsey Jordan
i mean we are all going to die one way or another, but it would suck to die like that...being melted away by the one thing that let you see in the day...dang
Lindsey Jordan
Even though it won't affect us directly in the 2000's, but the Sun blowing up is a serious discussion topic. I think we should not be selfish and think of just ourselves, rather than the generation after us. I felt that the articles were sort of depressing because, this place is what we call home, and if the Sun's going to explode, our planet won't be safe either. Probably we can't do anything about this right now, but we still got time to build enough technology! We do have a few billion years to go...
Sana Yasmeen ☺
3rd Period
HAHAHA I'm really sorry for my faint heart and all of my depressing comments but....... "A few billion years."LOLOLOLOLOL
I wish that i could care more but im serious guys common!! A few billion years. Plus i think i have to agree with kelly. Technology go's a long way.
i think of the thought of ruining our earth is very bad. it also is depressing too. i think that if we would try to save and help our earth we could help. the earth cant last forever so we cant just watch it die before us. i wish that global warming would stop and we could save the penguins!! this article has shown me that people can and should help our world!!
Peace out homies!!
Kendra!!!!!!
Food for thought - humans haven't even been on this planet for a million years, let alone a billion. No complex species has been around for a billion years.
Do you think our descendants will even be here to worry about this?
The article was interesting but kindof depressing. I think with all the global warming and other environmental things going on the earth will be long gone before this happens anyways. AND SO WILL I! Even though this research may not matter in millions of years it's still good to do this research because researchers may find a way to prevent these things from happening.
James Bullard
ok so this is gonna sound really anti-human...but i think this sounds AMAZINGLY cool. like...can you imagine if all of a sudden we werent here anymore?? i mean thats obviously gonna happen when we die...but this is gonne be like not one person isnt here anymore...no one is! as in: there will be no people. so yeah i sound like i hate humans but i dont.. i just think this sounds really really cool. like one second everyone will be all happy and doing whatever and then the next it'll be like BOOOOOOM! and they will all be dead!
Zoino
i kinda agree with zoino.. it does sound sortof cool...
i saw a show on discovery channel about this. the guy who was talking about it was really creepy and enthusiastic about it. he was like yay the sun is going to blow up! freakkkkkk. its depressing... that all humans would die. but i would want to be like.. an astronaut and go sit on pluto and watch it happen.
-platner
I agree with NaNe/ Nate Doggg. It is depressing and hard to grasp. It is inevitable. I do not see eye to eye with him about the asteroid stuff. We need any help we can get. Whoever says we are doomed in 2012 is whack or something.
Stuart Wallace
Did anyone see "Life After Humans?"
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