From the AI apocalypse to a full-blown nuclear war, there seems to be an almost endless list of things that could bring about the end of the world.
But, if those terrifying fates affect us, there is an apocalyptic event that Earth cannot avoid.
A terrifying graph reveals how the Sun will grow into a huge ‘red giant’ star, becoming so big it will be the end of the solar system as we know it.
Although this may seem absolutely petrifying, you don’t need to start worrying just yet.
Dr Edward Bloomer, senior astronomer at Royal Greenwich Observatory, said: “The Sun is probably about 5 billion years away from reaching the red giant phase.” So we have some time!’
This graphic reveals the gruesome fate of all the planets in the solar system when the Sun dies and transforms into a huge red dwarf star.
Within five to 5.5 billion years, the Sun will run out of helium and begin to expand outward, cooling and becoming a red giant. This artist’s impression shows an exoplanet attracted to the heat of its own star.
Our Sun, like all stars, is essentially a giant nuclear furnace, crushing helium atoms under the force of gravity.
This immense gravitational force is what keeps the eight planets and many other objects in the solar system in orbit.
Meanwhile, the energy generated in nuclear fusion radiates into the universe as heat, creating a habitable zone that extends from just beyond Venus to the orbit of Mars.
However, Dr Bloomer told MailOnline that eventually this will all change.
Within five to 5.5 billion years, the Sun will begin to transform into a red giant.
“This essentially happens when the Sun runs out of hydrogen to fuse in its core,” explains Dr. Bloomer.
This diagram follows the life of a Sun-like star from its birth to its evolution into a red giant. On the left the star begins as a dust cloud and goes through the stages of the main sequence until it becomes a red giant on the right.
When our Sun finally runs out of hydrogen, its core will begin to collapse under the pull of its own gravity.
As the outer layers collapse inward, the resulting pressure and heat will become so intense that these layers will begin to fuse helium atoms into carbon.
The resulting burst of energy will cause the Sun to expand hundreds of times its original size and cool from white to bright red.
Bloomer explains that while this process is “not like flipping a switch,” it will inevitably lead to the destruction of the solar system.
It’s difficult to estimate how big the Sun will become, but at its top it could reach up to 300 million kilometers (186 million miles) in diameter, which is the same size as the red giant Antares (pictured).
Currently, the sun is approximately 865,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) in diameter.
But as it becomes a red giant, it could grow to be more than 200 times its size, reaching up to 300 million kilometers (186 million miles) in diameter.
When this happens, the innermost planets, Mercury and Venus, will be pulled toward the Sun and destroyed.
However, Dr Bloomer said: “The exact size of the red giant is not known precisely, so the Earth is in an interesting position.”
At 93 million miles (148.22 million kilometers) from the Sun, the Earth might look like it’s toast.
But 300 million kilometers is the absolute upper limit for the Sun’s growth, and it may not become that big.
Dr Bloomer said: “At the upper end of possible sizes, the Earth can be completely engulfed by the Sun, and that’s the end.” At the lower end it cannot be consumed.’
When the Sun becomes a red giant, Mercury and Venus will be devoured by its expansion and the inner planets (left) will be stripped of their atmospheres. The outer planets (right) will be less affected by the change.
But even if the Sun doesn’t swallow the entire Earth, it’s not good news.
Dr Bloomer said: “The temperature of the Earth’s surface will mean that the atmosphere will disappear and the oceans will disappear.” ‘
And he adds: “The ‘Earth’ that remains would be, at best, a lifeless ball of rock destroyed by radiation.”
The outer planets will not escape unscathed, as Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be devastated by the intense heat of the growing red giant.
If the Sun grows large enough, it could burn up through a process called “photoevaporation,” as stellar emissions remove surrounding gases.
However, Dr. Bloomer explains that some models predict that Saturn could suddenly find itself in the middle of the Sun’s new habitable zone.
He said: “Some models suggest that around the distance between Saturn and the Sun could be reasonably warm. We can’t live on Saturn, but maybe on its moon Titan?
“It currently hosts a thick, unbreathable atmosphere and lakes of liquid ethane and methane due to extremely low temperatures, but trying to figure out what would happen there when it warms is an area of ongoing research.”
This image shows the Ring Nebula that formed when a dying star ejected the last of its material into space; this same fate will eventually befall our Sun.
Finally, in about seven billion years the Sun will run out of energy and begin to expel its outer layers into space, leaving behind a planetary nebula.
These huge ring-shaped structures form when dying stars eject most of their remaining material before becoming a hot white dwarf star.
Last year, scientists used the James Webb Space Telescope to capture images of Messier 57, or the Ring Nebula, giving us a glimpse of what our Sun will one day be like.
And, in these final stages, the Sun will complete its transformation of the solar system as it removes the outermost planets from its orbit.
If the Sun loses 50 percent of its mass during this process, the forces will be so strong that Uranus and Neptune will simply be swept out of the solar system.
If the Sun loses more than 50 percent of its mass as it becomes a planetary nebula, Uranus and Neptune (pictured) will be forcibly pulled into space.
Finally, as for the asteroid belt and the Oort cloud, which also orbit the Sun, their gravity will depend on their distance.
As the Sun reaches its final giant size, objects in the asteroid belt can heat up to such extremes that frozen gases and water will sublimate, leaving nothing but metallic cores.
However, in the Oort cloud, a vast expanse of rocky material lying between 0.079 and 1.58 light years from the Sun, very little will change.
“In some sense, they may not realize it because they are simply too far away,” says Dr. Bloomer.
“However, depending on things like changes in the Solar System’s angular momentum caused by the Sun’s expansion, places like the Oort cloud could be slightly perturbed and the orbits of objects in that vast region could be altered.
“Overall, however, it probably won’t be as transformative as the effects on the inner Solar System.”