The Earth Faces a Harsh Solar Fate in 5 Billion Years

Astronomers warn that Earth may face a tragic end in the distant future, as the sun enters its final phase and transforms into a red giant in about five billion years, when its hydrogen fuel runs out and it begins to expand massively.

Scenario of engulfment or tearing apart

According to researchers from University College London and the University of Warwick, the sun's expansion could reach the point of engulfing the closest planets to it, which may include Earth, or gradually tear it apart due to the extremely strong gravity at that stage.

Professor Edward Bryant explained that what is known as "tidal forces" will play a crucial role in this fate; as the sun expands, its gravitational influence on the orbits of the planets increases, causing them to drift slowly towards the star until they are destroyed or fall into it.

Extensive simulation on hundreds of thousands of stars

The study relied on analyzing data from about half a million stars in the "post-main sequence" phase, and researchers were able to identify 130 giant planets close to their stars through precise simulation, including 33 planets that were previously unknown.

The results showed that stars that began to transform into red giants became less hospitable to large planets, with the percentage of host stars being less than half a percent, providing strong evidence that these planets are indeed being destroyed during the star's evolution.

Will Earth survive?

Scientists expect that the sun will almost certainly engulf Mercury and Venus. As for Earth, although it may not directly reach the limits of the expanding sun, the immense rise in heat and radiation will make the survival of life impossible, with the possibility of oceans evaporating and the planet being stripped of its atmosphere.

The study is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.