How will our solar system end?

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I just saw “2011.” The film which sparked a lot of controversies. Then I started thinking about the end of our solar system. How will it end? As you can imagine, this is a major topic that is studied by hundreds of researchers and scientists worldwide? And they all point to different directions.

Our solar system had a beginning, so there must be an end. It’s inevitable. There are a lot of ideas from science fiction that we see everyday. Those are just fiction and prey on our paranoia. But the recognized studies give us more insight into the possible scenarios.

The end of our Sun


All theories begin with the end of our sun. Even though it’s bigger than other stars, it’s still a star and it would eventually die. To know more about this, scientists are studying white dwarfs (the last stage in the life-cycle of a star). They are researching the chemical composition of white dwarfs.

Scientists believe that studying white dwarfs might help us understand more about the end of our Sun. (Did you know that a teaspoon of white dwarf would weigh about five tonnes?) Because science is full of calculating possible scenarios, you might feel that it is cold and calculating.

When will our Sun die? Scientists speculate that in roughly 5 billion years, the Sun would cool and expand outward to many times its current size (turning into a red giant). It would cast off the outer layers as a planetary nebula and leave behind a stellar corpse called ‘white dwarfs.’

The stability of the solar system


Our solar system is not stable at all. Of course, none of the planets will collide with each other or be ejected from the system in the few billion years to come. Still, the planetary orbits are chaotic when you analyse a long timescale. It’s impossible to predict these changes accurately.

Also, when you talk about unexpected things (like in science fiction), there are a wide range of unknown elements to calculate. There are asteroids, the mass loss of the Sun (due to radiation and solar flares), galactic tidal forces, effects from passing stars, the quadrapole moment (look it up here).

When it comes to astronomy and virtually anything related to stars, we need decades of data and analysis and patience. What we have managed to gather so far do not allow us to predict important events.

How do you think that our solar system would end? Share your theories.