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Originally Posted by oberon04
Even if Mercury was slowly moving toward the sun, I would think that the sun will became a red giant and engulf Mercury ( the sun basically grows and becomes a lot brighter) long before Mercury was have moved into the sun.
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you are basically right, the sun will swell into a red giant and swallow not just Mercury but Venus as well. But it will not become alot brighter, it will actually get dimmer, because the there will be a larger surface to light intensity ratio.
Oh and the Earth will be fried when this happens as well, but it will not be swallowed.
The one thing that I'm not sure about is if the Earth will fall into the sun when this happens, because surely the change in size and density of the sun would cause changes in it's gravity. Would the earth fall into the sun, fly out of orbit, or would the changes forces maintain a balance and the earth continue to orbit?