• Question: Why will the sun eventually explode and why hasnt it already?

    Asked by betwhit12 to Jo, Kevin on 22 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Kevin Mahon

      Kevin Mahon answered on 22 Jun 2012:

      It most certainly will! It happens when it runs out of fuel (hyrdogen) and starts to expand outwards, this ‘exploding’.

      Our sun will become a red giant in approximately 5 billion years. It hasn’t become one yet as it is right in the middle of its life-cycle, it has plenty of hydrogen to fuel it so it won’t go anytime soon!

    • Photo: Joanna Cruden

      Joanna Cruden answered on 22 Jun 2012:

      The sun is a relatively small star and there are scientists who do not think it will explode, I have found a nice website which explains this, and I copied and pasted this sentence from it

      “What will happen is that the Sun will just blow off its outer layers leaving a carbon rich white dwarf core. It will cool down over billions of years until it reaches the very same temperature as with the universe”

      http://planetfacts.org/when-will-the-sun-explode/

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