Earth could be swallowed up by Sun, warns new study
What's the story
A new research suggests a dramatic end awaits our solar system as the Sun exhausts its energy reserves.
The study, published in a scientific journal, asserts that the Sun, like all stars, has a finite lifespan and will eventually cease to exist.
The Sun will one day perish, and parts of the Solar System, including our Earth will be consumed by it, before it transforms into a white dwarf, as per the study.
Scenario
Earth's fate tied to Sun's transformation
The research, led by a team from University of Warwick, predicts this cataclysmic event will occur in approximately six billion years.
As the Sun's fuel supply diminishes, it'll transform into a white dwarf, creating enormous gravitational force that could draw our solar system into its dense core for annihilation.
"The sad news is that the Earth will probably just be swallowed up by an expanding Sun, before it becomes a white dwarf," said Professor Boris Gaensicke of University of Warwick.
Solar system's fate
Other celestial bodies also at risk
The study also warns that other celestial bodies within our solar system may face a similar fate.
"For the rest of the solar system, some of the asteroids located between Mars and Jupiter, and maybe some of the moons of Jupiter may get dislodged and travel close enough to the eventual white dwarf to undergo the shredding process we have investigated," said Gaensicke.
This research underscores the inevitable end of our solar system as we know it today.
Research methodology
Study based on extensive white dwarf observations
The team's predictions are grounded in a comprehensive 17-year study observing three distinct white dwarf stars.
They found that unlike regular stars, where changes in brightness are predictable due to planets orbiting in regular patterns, around white dwarfs, these transits were highly erratic and irregular.
This suggests that bodies orbiting white dwarfs face catastrophic and violent ends as they are torn apart by gravity and ultimately pulverized into dust.