Five billion years from now, the sun apocalypse. Doomsday. After our sun exhausted their fuel, and will start to burn the heavier elements in its fusion core. When this process occurs, the Sun will swell, and also will spew most of its constituent materials into space through a strongly blow of the stellar winds.
Imagine, then the sun will expand about 100 times larger than today, and becoming what is known as the 'red giant'. Those dramatic expansion event will took two nearby planets, Mercury and Venus became the victims.
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| L2 Puppis dying star offers glimpse of Earth's doomsday in 5 billion years from now. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1gfUrz) |
So, what will happen to our Earth? Is the human planet (which is the third planet from the sun) will suffer the same fate as Venus and Mercury are engulfed by a super-hot plasma sea? Or, whether the Earth could escape of the most terrible phase of upheaval deaths and continues to orbit on the red dwarf star which is the remainder of the sun?
"We already know that the sun will expand and increasingly light (when entering the red giant phase). These conditions may be destroying all forms of life that exist in our planet," said Leen Decin, from KU Leuven Institute of Astronomy in a statement, as quoted from Space.com on Sunday, December 11, 2016. Or in other words, human beings, animals, and plants will disappear. Earth is no longer blue, and that the remaining was its core only. Parched.
However, whether a rocky core of the Earth will survive on the red giant phase and continued orbiting on the white dwarfs star? With the help of the most powerful radio observatory on the planet, the astronomers could soon have a clue about the fate of the Earth by looking at the nearest star system which resembles the approximate shape of our solar system when the sun was going towards its final moments.
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| A composite view of the L2 Puppis star system, including the location of the red giant star and probable exoplanet. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1gfUrz) |
Yes, there's L2 Puppis is an evolved star, which located in a distance of more than 200 light years from the Earth (one light year would have amounted to 9,460 billion kilometers). Although the existence of L2 Puppis feels far away, actually it was at our cosmic doorstep.
By using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. And through precise measurements of the star, the astronomers have concluded the mass and age of L2 Puppis. It turns out, L2 Puppis is a 10 billion years old Sun-like star. It is also a prime example of a planetary nebula formation process.
The fate of the sun in 5 billion years from now, the L2 Puppis in conditions of ripped and torn, spraying large amounts of gas into space. The process creates a large luminous clouds and privileged planetary nebula at glimpse looks like a beautiful cosmic butterfly.
"We discovered that the L2 Puppis, about 10 billion years olds," said Ward Homan who also a scientist from KU Leuven. "Five billion a year earlier, these star looks like a twin of the sun at this time, with almost similar mass. However, a third of its mass is lost during the star evolution. The same thing will happen with the sun."
Not only that. Based on a recent study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the L2 Puppis, also seems to have the planet that lies behind (with a distance of about 300 million kilometers). Although the distance is twice the distance of Earth's orbit to the Sun, but scientists can see incredible things where a world orbiting to a death star.
It is became an indication of what remains of the Earth in a few billion years future. Scientists hope to learn of the unfortunate planet (which has been a silent witness and the victims at once of the 'anger' that occurs in L2 Puppis).
"Five billion years from now, the sun will swell into a red giant star, hundreds of times larger than its current size. It also will experiencing intense mass loss through strong brunt of the stellar winds," says Decin.
Final product of the star evolution which occured at 7 billion years from now is a white dwarf star. With the size is similar to the Earth, but more severe: a teaspoon of white dwarf material has a weighs about 5 tons.
Astronomers often look at the stars (of course by using the tools) to better understand our position in the galaxy. In this case, they glimpse into the future and a key part of the life cycle of a star like our sun. And the astronomers have also witnessed in the real sense of doom that could happen to the sun (a colossal event that leaves the carcass of a star can swallow the planets around it).
And although the Earth may not be immersed in the bubbling hell in the shape of swollen star, but all forms of life would not be left in the Earth. What's left on the Earth is a rocky core that has been peeled and great roasted. Perhaps, that's the picture of doom for our planet. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | SPACE.COM]
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