Ultimately, the sun will explode, and all that remains of our once magnificent star is a small, faintly glowing ember, says Brian Cox.
The Earth will probably not live up to this moment. And if it does, it will be in the form of burnt and barren stones that will witness the dying agony of the Sun, explained British physics professor Brian Cox . When will the end of the world happen and what it will be, the scientist told the BBC program “Wonders of the Universe“.
The sun is what gives life to our planet, but this same star can kill us all. Unfortunately, it is not getting younger, so the likelihood of its explosion only increases every year.
The sun has remained unchanged for four billion years. It burns 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second. This solar energy is the foundation of life on Earth.
According to Cox, when the hydrogen dries up in the interior of the Sun, the final stage of the life of the star will begin. This will be disastrous for the Earth.
“The sun will not just go out. When the star runs out of fuel, its core will begin to expand rapidly. The additional heat that will be released in the process will cause the outer layers of the Sun to expand. The luminary will increase to such an extent that it will fill the entire horizon when viewed from Earth. For this will be the end of our planet – all living things will perish under the incinerating light,” the physicist said.
“Gradually, our planet will become hotter and hotter, so that the last perfect day will come on Earth, but in the end, the existence of all life will become impossible,” the physicist described as the last day of life on Earth.
After the solar core collapses, the extra heat it generates will cause the outer layers of the Sun to expand, and this will burn the Earth. The catastrophe will happen in about a billion years. Then the Sun will become a red dwarf – this is the final phase of the star’s life.
In six billion years, the Sun will explode, throwing a huge amount of gas and dust into space, forming a giant nebula, the professor explained.
It is unlikely that humanity will be able to stop this process, therefore the only possible salvation is the exodus to other planets.
