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The Sun’s Death Could Tear Apart the Outer Solar System Much Sooner Than Thought
Gizmodo • • science
Key Points:
- New research suggests that the outer solar system will become unstable and potentially collapse within about 1 billion years after the Sun transforms into a white dwarf, much sooner than previous estimates of up to 1 quintillion years.
- This revised timeline is due to the Sun losing its mass in irregular, episodic ejections rather than a smooth process, causing chaotic disturbances in planetary orbits.
- The study, led by astrophysicist Konstantin Batygin, used 672 simulations to model different mass loss scenarios, finding that 96% of these resulted in orbital chaos within 3 billion years after the Sun's transformation.
- The findings challenge earlier assumptions about the long-term stability of the outer planets and highlight the complex, chaotic nature of planetary dynamics as influenced by stellar evolution.
- Overall, the Sun’s death will not be a quiet event for the solar system; it will trigger significant orbital disruptions, ultimately destabilizing the outer planets.
