What will be the fate of the Earth after the solar death?
This question concerns Amornrat Aungwerojwit, a physicist at Naresuan University in Thailand. The scientists of this institution set out to predict the fate of our beloved planet once the sun has exhausted its final energy resources.
Initially, Mercury and Venus, located in the orbit closest to the sun, will be swallowed up by their host star. These planets will be inexorably torn apart and subsumed by the immense solar gravity.
For the Earth, a tiny glimmer of hope remains, conditioned by the evolution of its orbit according to the massive decline of the sun and the dynamic interactions between celestial entities. Boris Gänsicke, a scholar at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, emphasizes: “It remains uncertain whether the Earth will manage to move away quickly enough to avoid the solar grip and its subsequent conflagration. »
However, even if it survived, our azure planet would inevitably be stripped of its atmosphere and oceans, rendering it barren and inhospitable.
This theory emanates from the analysis of white dwarf stars, in particular from the observation of their variations in luminosity. These light fluctuations, when regular, can reveal the presence of orbital objects periodically intercepting starlight. Aungwerojwit explains: “Previous studies have demonstrated that when asteroids, natural satellites or planets approach white dwarfs, the colossal gravitational force of these stars gradually fragments these celestial bodies into tiny particles, condemning them to an inexorable disappearance, probably absorbed by the white dwarf. »
Gänsicke laments: “Unfortunately, it is possible that the Earth will be devoured by an expanding sun before transforming into a white dwarf. » He adds: “For the rest of the solar system, certain asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, as well as possibly certain satellites of Jupiter, could be displaced and come close enough to the emerging white dwarf to undergo the fragmentation process studied. »
However, we should be reassured: the oceans and the Earth will be swallowed up long before the sun reaches this point, in about a billion years.
source: What will become of the Earth when the sun dies? (linternaute.com)
