Oh, it seems I’m not an expert in providing good news!
Are we sure that after its days are over, our Sun becomes a black dwarf? My answer is NO. No, I’m not sure of that. Nobody is. But the most popular theory tells us that as Earth is standing on the back of a giant turtle… Oh, no, no, sorry. This theory was the most popular 500 years ago. I took the wrong theory folder!
So, according to the theory that is most popular nowadays, we have about 5 billion years before different creepy miracles occur.
The Sun is a low-mass star, which is great luck for all of us. Why? Because if it were massive, we probably wouldn’t have enough time to develop our civilization. Paraphrasing an immortal song: ‘One by one, only the big die young.’ If Earth orbited some massive star, its death would probably catch us at the stage of making a stone axe. And it would be a pretty difficult task as this damn axe would melt all the time because of the massive star’s heat. Not to mention radiation and other disadvantages.
And while massive stars live short and die bright, our small humble Sun gives us time to prosper and provides us with literally royal conditions for life.
Unfortunately, all the good things come to an end. In this case, all the good is hydrogen. As our star exhausts its hydrogen fuel, it will undergo significant changes. The core will contract under its own gravity, causing the outer layers of the Sun to expand. This expansion will transform the Sun into a red giant that will swallow Mercury, Venus, and maybe even Earth.
The core of the Sun will become dense and hot enough to ignite helium fusion, forming a helium-burning shell around the core. This process will release a substantial amount of energy, causing the outer layers to expand even further and form a planetary nebula, leaving behind its core, which will have transformed into a dense and hot white dwarf.
A white dwarf is an extremely dense object, roughly the size of the Earth but with a mass comparable to the Sun. Over billions of years, the white dwarf will gradually cool and fade, eventually becoming a cold and dark remnant known as a black dwarf.
And if you take me at my word and ask me to show you at least one of the black dwarfs, I will respond: ‘Sorry, guys! The process of dimming takes billions and billions of years. As our universe is relatively young, no white dwarf has managed to cool enough.’
You are very welcome to share your thoughts in the comments!
Stay strong!
Dream big!
Use your 5 billion wisely!