A scientific study reveals that life on Earth will disappear long before the Sun dies. How much time does humanity have left to find a solution before this deadline?
For billions of years, the Sun has illuminated the Earth and dictated the rhythm of the cycle of the seasons, making life possible on the surface of our planet. But this star which has served as a benchmark for us since the dawn of time will not last forever. Scientists are clear: in a few billion years, the Sun will disappear. And according to a recent study by researchers at NASA and the University of Warwick, life on Earth is expected to die out well before then.
Visible only as a luminous disk from Earth, the Sun is actually an immense ball of gas that evolves slowly over time. Currently, it consumes the hydrogen it contains, which produces energy and makes it glow. But this situation will only last for a while. When its hydrogen is exhausted, the Sun will swell into a “red giant”, that is to say a star 2,000 times larger than currently, engulfing Venus and Mercury before exploding into a cloud of dust. In the end, all that will remain is a “white dwarf”, a small dying star that will leave only a cold core wandering in space after its death.
Although the end of our Sun is expected in about 5 billion years, its gradual decline will begin well in advance and cause the extinction of life on Earth well before then. The study published by the group of scientists reveals that over the next billion years, the Sun’s brightness and heat will increase, making conditions for life on Earth increasingly hostile. The oceans will gradually evaporate, causing the species present to disappear. But rest assured, this process will be slow enough for humanity to have time to imagine solutions to this “small” problem.
When life is no longer possible on our planet, we will likely have no choice but to turn to other worlds. As such, the planet Mars could represent a possible refuge for humans. Although this solution seems worthy of a science fiction scenario, it is an idea that currently motivates scientists to develop technologies allowing us to make our red neighbor habitable. What if the future of our species was on another planet than the one where we were born?