sunshine

ClimberInOz

blackredyellow wrote:

But if the sun increases to the size where it would basically gobble up the first four planets, wouldn't it's gravitational pull become much much stronger and pull in the other planets?

I guess either way it's an after thought, we will be long gone.

Gravity is based on mass rather then size- size can have some influence on where the gravitational effects are strongest. If our sun were to be replaced by an object the size of a pinhead, that somehow retained the entire mass of the sun, earth's orbit would remain unchanged.

But your right- it will be the last of our worries...

boxwine_in_hell

ClimberInOz wrote:

Our sun lacks the gravitational mass to turn into a black hole- it will end up as a white dwarf before radiating away all remaining energy.

Also, a black hole does not have a greater gravitational effect then the star it formed from. The matter is more concentrated, so the gravity close to the black hole is more extreme, but at a distance it doesn't change much. In binary star systems (stars that orbit around each other), where one star collapses into a black hole- the remaining star will maintain a very similar orbit.

Climber obviously watched more Carl Sagan then I did, but I got it mostly right I think, but thanks for filling in the gaps for me.

WMA

I imagine people will have a pretty good grasp of when the Earth will become uninhabitable long before it happens, and depending on technology will figure out some way to save at least some of the population. I guess the only question is who will get saved

That is unless of course we get hit by a huge asteroid, comet, or whatever the heck else while people are sitting around worried about lesser problems.
It is scary how few people are actually monitoring for stuff coming at us. (at least according to some documentaries I've seen)

Edit:
Every Tuesday the science channel has shows dealing with space throughout the night.

Tonight the shows 'supermassive black holes', '95 worlds and counting', 'if we had no moon' and others. Sometimes interesting for me anyway.

mammasan

catefrances wrote:

if the sun dies, does that mean our universe will collapse in on itself?

No the universe will no collapse in on itself. Countless suns (stars) die all the time and the universe is still intact. Our solar system will be greatly affected by the death of our sun but our galaxy and the universe will continue to exist as if nothing happened.

ClimberInOz

boxwine_in_hell wrote:

Climber obviously watched more Carl Sagan then I did, but I got it mostly right I think, but thanks for filling in the gaps for me.

No worries, and you're right- you got most of it spot on.

I was a late dicoverer of Carl Sagan and all those books on the cosmos- but when I did find them sparked this whole fascination with all things astronomical. I think I have probably read about 30 or so similar books now and am about 17 000 words into writing my own book on the subject. No wonder my students think I am a nerd...

Cosmo

From what I read... the Sun will cool and expand as it loses its ability to maintain its mass. It'll swell in size, consuming her terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars). Eventually, she'll give off her matter out into space in the form of a nebula, leaving behind a white dwarf in her place. The Sun is average, nothing special, in the star pecking order. She is too small create a spectacular supernova, bigger than the star that simply extinguish.
Hopefully, before the Sun dies... Man will figure out that he is alone in this corner of the Universe and figure out that it's time he stopped being an asshole.

boxwine_in_hell

ClimberInOz wrote:

No worries, and you're right- you got most of it spot on.

I was a late dicoverer of Carl Sagan and all those books on the cosmos- but when I did find them sparked this whole fascination with all things astronomical. I think I have probably read about 30 or so similar books now and am about 17 000 words into writing my own book on the subject. No wonder my students think I am a nerd...

I remember taking an astronomy class in college and just kind of being bummed out after every class. I guess it has the opposite affect on some people, they are awed by the vastness of it all but I tend toward the opposite like if our known world is so temporary and insignificant in the grand scheme of things then what's the point? I guess human beings have always grappled with this harsh truth.

Ms. Haiku

catefrances wrote:

that was not my question.
i am aware of the implications for life on earth. i was just curious as to what people would think would happen to the universe.

Since it's a star wouldn't it just affect the universe as would the death of other stars?

catefrances

fuckin' hell. i make one mistake and i spend the rest of the thread clarifying what i meant.

see post #12.

mammasan

catefrances wrote:

fuckin' hell. i make one mistake and i spend the rest of the thread clarifying what i meant.

see post #12.

Well Venus, Mercury, Earth and Mars would cease to exist. As someone stated, the sun would increase in size as it started to loose energy and would no longer be capable of sustaining it's mass. As it grew it would swallow the planets I mentioned. At it's largest point it would release it's outer shell creating a nebula and then collapsing into a White Dwarf star or a black hole, being that our sun is not that large compared to other stars it would most likely become a White dwarf.

scw156

catefrances wrote:

fuckin' hell. i make one mistake and i spend the rest of the thread clarifying what i meant.

see post #12.

EDIT your original post... then people reading it for the first time will see what you mean

somebodyelsessky2020

well i'm going to be real honest here....NOBODY FUCKING KNOWS OK!! it's one of those things people can act like they know what the hell they're talking about but in all honesty the smartest fucking genius in the world couldn't tell ya what would happen should the sun go out.

catefrances

scw156 wrote:

EDIT your original post... then people reading it for the first time will see what you mean

done it.