Quote:
Originally posted by llama8
The freezing is the least of our worries.
Before the Sun runs out of fuel it will suddenly expand in size and become a Red Giant. Although slightly cooler it will still be using Nuclear Reactions to burn off those larger elements such as Helium. Oh there is also the small matter of this "Giant" encroaching on the Earth's orbit so ultimately swallowing us.
So we're all doomed even sooner  . Apparently we have several billion years left so no need to panic quite yet!
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Actually when the sun expands, it won't actually swallow the earth. It will swallow mercury and venus, and earth will orbit just some 200,000 miles from the surface of the sun. It'll be a blasted ball of molten rock, but it won't be swallowed by the sun.