Scientists say Earth may escape the dying Sun after all

Key Points:

• New research published in Astronomy and Astrophysics challenges the long-held belief that Earth will be engulfed by the expanding Sun when it dies in about five billion years, suggesting instead that Earth might escape this fate.
• The outcome depends on a balance between tidal forces pulling Earth inward and the Sun's mass loss causing Earth's orbit to expand; improved tidal models indicate energy dissipation inside the Sun is lower than previously thought, favoring Earth's survival.
• Observations of the nearby star L2 Puppis, considered a solar analog in its late stages, helped refine estimates of the Sun's mass loss, supporting the possibility that Earth and Mars could move outward rather than be consumed.
• Mercury and Venus remain likely to be engulfed by the dying Sun, which will eventually become a white dwarf, but these changes do not affect the earlier, inevitable loss of life on Earth due to increasing solar luminosity.