ASK Space Our experts answer your questions

SOLAR SYSTEM What will happen to the Solar System when the Sun becomes a white dwarf?

For the last 4.5 billion years the Sun has provided warmth and light to Earth, thanks to a constant chain of nuclear reactions in its core. But what will happen to our planet, and the rest of our Solar System, when the Sun runs out of its nuclear fuel? In about 8 billion years the Sun will swell 200-times larger than its current size, engulfing most of the inner Solar System – Mercury, Venus and possibly Earth – and briefly baking the outer planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

After completely exhausting its fuel reserves, the Sun will shed its outer layers, leaving only a tiny, dense remnant core called a white dwarf glowing from the Sun’s leftover heat. This transformation sets off a series of changes for the surviving planets in the outer system. After a short period of intense radiation, the white dwarf will cool rapidly, freezing the outer planets. The loss of the Sun’s outer layers also triggers gravitational instabilities, leading to close encounters between planets, asteroids and comets, sending some of these planets perilously close to the white