The Sun Will Destroy the Earth One Day, Right? Maybe Not

For years, scientists have believed that the sun will eventually expand into a red giant and consume the Earth. It’s an unsettling thought—that our planet, along with Mercury and Venus, will be engulfed by the swelling sun in its final stages. However, recent discoveries suggest that Earth may not be doomed after all. Instead, our planet might endure and outlive its star, albeit in an uninhabitable form. This unexpected revelation comes from new observations of a potential rocky world orbiting a white dwarf—an insight that challenges what we thought we knew about the ultimate fate of our solar system.

Discovery of a Potential Earth-Size Rocky World

Astronomers have recently spotted what appears to be an Earth-sized rocky planet orbiting a white dwarf star—essentially the remains of a sun-like star that has already passed through its red giant phase. This intriguing discovery, which was published in Nature Astronomy, has sparked considerable excitement in the science community. Could Earth, too, survive when the sun transforms into a white dwarf?

The rocky planet in question was discovered orbiting a white dwarf about 4,000 light-years away from Earth. What’s remarkable is that this planet seems to have once orbited its star in a similar position to where Earth is today. Over time, the planet’s orbit was pushed outward to a distance about twice as far as Earth's current orbit from the sun. This displacement allowed it to survive the violent expansion of its star as it became a red giant and, eventually, a white dwarf.

Could Earth Follow a Similar Path?

Scientists are now speculating about whether Earth could share the same fate as this distant planet. According to Keming Zhang, an astrophysicist at the University of California, San Diego, who led the study, it’s possible that Earth could survive the sun’s red giant phase. “We don’t know if Earth can survive,” Dr. Zhang explained, “but if it does, it’ll end up somewhere like this system.”

The data collected from this system offers a glimpse into the potential future of our solar system. If Earth survives, it might drift farther away from the sun as it loses mass during its transformation into a white dwarf. This shift would allow Earth to avoid being engulfed in the fiery expansion, but by then, our planet would be a far cry from its current, life-sustaining state.

How the Discovery Was Made

This potential rocky planet was first spotted in 2020 using a process called microlensing, a method that allows astronomers to detect planets by observing the bending of light as one star passes in front of another. The planet’s star magnified the background star's light by 1,000 times, allowing scientists to observe the system.

The Korean telescope network responsible for the initial discovery was able to capture this event, but follow-up observations were limited. However, thanks to additional work by Dr. Zhang’s team at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, the star was identified as a white dwarf, and further insights into the system were gathered.

The team’s calculations suggest that the star was once a sun-like star before losing its outer layers and becoming a white dwarf. Crucially, the rocky planet appears to have orbited in the star’s habitable zone before it was displaced. This is the first time scientists have observed a rocky planet orbiting a white dwarf, offering new possibilities for understanding the future of rocky worlds like Earth.

What Does This Mean for Earth’s Fate?

As the sun ages and runs out of fuel, it will undergo significant changes, expanding into a red giant and losing mass. This process is expected to happen in about six billion years. As the sun loses mass, the orbits of the planets in the solar system may shift. Some, like Mercury and Venus, are almost certain to be swallowed by the expanding star. However, Earth’s fate has been more uncertain.

Dr. Zhang’s discovery offers hope that Earth may survive the sun’s red giant phase, albeit in a severely altered state. By the time the sun becomes a white dwarf, Earth will likely have moved to a more distant orbit, where it could continue to circle the remnants of its once-vibrant star.

A Glimpse into the Future of Planetary Systems

While gaseous planets have been found orbiting white dwarfs before, this is the first time a potential rocky planet has been observed in such a system. Previous discoveries involved planets with either distant orbits or those that migrated inward after the red giant phase. This newly discovered planet offers a rare look at what could happen to a rocky world like Earth in the distant future.

Stephen Kane, an astronomer at the University of California, Riverside, expressed his excitement about the discovery, saying, “I was really excited when I saw the paper. This is the smallest, neatest little rockiest thing we’ve ever found around a white dwarf.” However, Kane also noted that the presence of a brown dwarf, a failed star in the same system, complicates the picture. It’s possible that the brown dwarf’s movement may have influenced the rocky planet’s orbit.

Looking Ahead with New Telescopes

Future telescopes may provide more detailed observations of such systems. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman space telescope, set to launch no earlier than 2027, will likely find more planets through microlensing, including some around white dwarfs. These discoveries could further illuminate how planets evolve in the late stages of their star’s life.

For now, Dr. Zhang’s findings offer a tantalizing glimpse into a possible future for Earth—one in which our planet endures even after the sun’s death.

Conclusion

Although the idea that the sun will eventually destroy Earth is unsettling, this latest discovery suggests that our planet might outlive its star. While it’s unlikely that Earth will remain habitable, the possibility of its survival offers a new perspective on the long-term fate of our solar system. As astronomers continue to study white dwarfs and the planets orbiting them, we may soon learn even more about the potential future of our own world.

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