The sun is a star located in the center of its own solar system. Eight planets revolve around it, one of which is our home, planet Earth. The sun is that star on which our life and existence directly depends, because if it weren’t for it, we would not even have been born. And if the Sun disappears (as our scientists predict, this will happen in the distant future, in a few billion years), then humanity, and the planet as a whole, will have a very hard time. That is why it is currently the most important star for us. One of the most intriguing and interesting topics related to space is the structure and evolution of the sun. This is the question we will consider in this article.
How was this star born?
The evolution of the sun is a very important issue for our lives. It appeared much earlier than the Earth. Scientists suggest that now it is in the middle of its life cycle, that is, this star is already about four or five billion years old, which is very, very much. The origin and evolution of the Sun are closely intertwined, because the nucleation of a star plays an important role in its development.
Speaking very briefly, the Sun was formed from a large accumulation of gas clouds, dust and various substances. Substances all accumulated and accumulated, as a result of this the center of this accumulation began to acquire its own mass and gravity. Then it spread throughout the nebula. It came to the point that the middle of all this mass, consisting of hydrogen, becomes dense and begins to draw in gas clouds and dust particles flying around. Then a thermonuclear reaction occurred, thanks to which our Sun was ignited. So, gradually growing, this substance was transformed into what we now call a star.
At the moment, it is one of the main sources of life on Earth. If only its temperature had increased by several percent, then we would not have existed. Thanks to the Sun, our planet was born and had ideal conditions for further development.
Characteristics and composition of the Sun
The structure and evolution of the sun are interconnected. It is by its structure and several other factors that scientists determine what will happen to him in the future and how this can affect humanity, the animal and plant world of our planet. Find out a little about this star.
It used to be that the Sun was an ordinary yellow dwarf, representing nothing at all. But later it turned out that it has in its composition many chemical elements, and very massive ones. If you describe in detail what our star consists of, you can spend a whole article on it, so you can mention this only briefly.
The most significant part in the composition of the sun is played by hydrogen and helium. It also contains many other substances, for example, iron with oxygen, nickel and nitrogen, many others, but they account for only 2% of the composition.
The surface coating of this star is called the crown. It is very thin, so it is practically invisible (except in those cases when the sun is getting dark). The crown has an uneven surface. In this regard, it is covered with holes. It is through these holes that the solar wind seeps with great speed. Under the thin shell is the chromosphere, which stretches in thickness for 16 thousand kilometers. It is in this part of the star that various chemical and physical reactions take place. The famous solar wind is immediately formed - the influx of a vortex of energy, which is often the cause of various processes on Earth (northern lights and magnetic storms). And the most powerful storms of fire occur in the photosphere - a dense and not translucent layer. The main task of gases in this part is the consumption of energy and light from the lower layers. The temperature here reaches six thousand degrees. The place of gas energy exchange is in the convection zone. From here, gases rise into the photosphere, and then return back to obtain the necessary energy. And in the boiler (the lowest layer of the star) very important and complex processes occur, associated with proton thermonuclear reactions. It is from here that the whole Sun receives its energy.
Sun evolution sequence
So we come to the most important issue of our article. The evolution of the sun is the changes that occur with a star in the process of its life: from birth to death. It was said earlier why it is important for people to know about this process. Now we will analyze several stages of the evolution of the Sun in order.
In one billion years
It is projected to increase the temperature of the sun by one dozen percent. In this regard, all life on our planet will die out. So it remains to hope that people will explore other galaxies by this time. It is also possible that some life in the ocean can still have a chance of existence. There will come a period of maximum star temperature in its entire life.
In three and a half billion years
The brightness of the Sun will almost double. In this regard, there will be complete evaporation and volatilization of water into space, after which any earthly life will not have a chance to exist. Earth will become like Venus. Further, in the process of the evolution of the Sun, its energy source will gradually fade, the cover will expand, and the core, on the contrary, will begin to decrease.
In six and a half billion years
At the central point of the sun, where the energy source is located, hydrogen reserves will be exhausted to the end, and helium will begin its own compression due to the fact that it cannot exist in such conditions. Hydrogen particles continue to burn only in the corona of the sun. The star itself will begin to turn into a supergiant, increasing in volume and size. Brightness will gradually increase with temperature, which will lead to even greater expansion.
In eight billion years (the extreme stage of the development of the Sun)
Hydrogen burning will start throughout the star. This is when its core glows very, very strongly. The sun will completely leave its orbit in the process of expansion from all of the above processes and will be entitled to be called the red giant. At this moment, the radius of the star grows more than 200 times, and its surface cools. The Earth, on the other hand, will not be swallowed by the inflamed Sun and will depart from its orbit. She may later be absorbed. But if this does not happen, then all the same all the water on the planet will go into a gaseous state and will evaporate, and the atmosphere will nevertheless be absorbed by the strongest solar wind.
Further, over several billion years, the Sun will change its state from the red giant to the small dwarf several times. In the future, it will be exhausted and will go out completely.
Total
As mentioned earlier, the evolution of the Sun will greatly affect our life and the existence of the planet as a whole. As it is not very difficult to guess, in any case it will be very bad for the Earth. Indeed, as a result of its evolution, the star will destroy the entire civilization, possibly, and will swallow our planet altogether.
To draw such conclusions was simple, because people already knew that the Sun is a star. The evolution of the Sun and stars of the same size and type proceeds in a similar way. On the basis of this, these theories were built, and also confirmed by facts. Death is an integral part of the life of any star. And if humanity wants to survive, then in the future we will have to put all our efforts into leaving our planet and avoiding its fate.