In about 5 billion years, the Sun will die a spectacular death.
As its hydrogen runs out, it will begin to burn helium. Bloating into a red giant, the Sun will expand to where Venus orbits today. Once the helium is used up, the Sun will collapse again into a hot white dwarf star about the size of Earth. Then it will cool.
We know all this from watching other stars. Point a telescope in just about any direction and you can see some star’s birth or death in progress. Recently, scientists have also discovered that some stars have planets spinning around them, just as our star does. Perhaps somewhere, there’s a planet where creatures are wondering, “Who’s out there?”
