A new study has laid out a chilling but distant forecast for the ultimate fate of our planet. According to research published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Earth could be consumed by the Sun in approximately five billion years. The study, conducted by scientists from the University of Warwick and University College London, explores the dramatic final stages of a star’s life and its devastating effect on orbiting planets.
The research explains that as the Sun exhausts its hydrogen fuel, it will begin to expand into a “red giant,” a dying star in its final evolutionary phase. This expansion will dramatically alter the gravitational dynamics of our solar system. Lead author Dr. Edward Bryant explained that Earth will be drawn inward by “tidal forces,” a gravitational pull that will slow the planet’s orbit and cause it to spiral inward “until it either breaks apart or falls into the star.”
The scientists reached this conclusion by analyzing data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). They studied signals from distant stars and found that planets orbiting closely around red giant stars were far less common, suggesting that many have already been engulfed. “This is strong evidence that as stars evolve… they can quickly cause planets to spiral into them and be destroyed,” Dr. Bryant stated. While this apocalyptic scenario is set billions of years in the future, co-author Dr. Vincent Van Eylen offered a small note of hope, suggesting Earth itself might physically survive the Sun’s expansion, but clarified that “life on Earth probably would not.”
