Astronomy Wonder Assignment

By: Elaine Jarbou

Brainstorm 10 Questions!

1. Why does our Earth have a ball of fire at it’s core?
2. Why doesn’t the core of the Earth burn us?
3. How does the moon control the waves of the water?
4. Is there life in other galaxies?
5. How is it possible that Earth is the only planet that holds life? (Water, Trees, etc.)
6. How did they find out that the core of the Earth is hot?
7. How far down do you have to dig to get to the core of the Earth?
8. What will happen if the sun eventually engulfs the Earth?
9. What was the first planet that formed and how did scientists discover that?
10. Are their other forms of life in other parts of the Milky Way?

 

Part One: Develop a Meaningful Question 

What will happen if the sun eventually engulfs the Earth?

-> How fast would everything burn?
-> Will this ever happen? If so, when?

-> Could this lead to another big bang after we go extinct?

-> How close would we need to be to the sun in order to burn ?

 

Part Two: Research

Resources:

Sun. – EBSCO (oclc.org)

CBC/Radio Canada. (2023, September 18). Analysis | future fate of the Earth seen as planet is engulfed by its parent star | CBC Radio. CBCnews. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/future-fate-of-the-earth-seen-as-planet-is-engulfed-by-its-parent-star-1.6833336

O’Callaghan, J., & Quanta Magazine moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive. (2024, January 4). New clues for what will happen when the sun eats the Earth. Quanta Magazine. https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-clues-for-what-will-happen-when-the-sun-eats-the-earth-20231220/

 

 

Part Three: Communicate Your Finding

Meaningful Question

Will the Sun Eventually Engulf the Earth? And if So, What will Happen? 

Explanation

I chose this question because there is not a straight answer to it. This is a theory that some astronomers believe, and some do not, in fact, others may believe the exact opposite. I was curious to find out if this was the future fate of our Earth and if we know that this will occur, what can we do to prevent it? This question opens up further discussions and allows many other questions to be asked.

Background Information on the Sun

The sun is 330,000 times the mass of the Earth and 1.3 times its volume. All the planets in our solar system revolve around the sun. This makes the sun the most important star to us and our planet. It holds almost all the mass of the solar system, (99.86) to be exact. The sun is a main sequence star which means it is not humongous but not very small either. As a part of its life cycle, the sun converts hydrogen to helium by nuclear fusion. The fusion emits the sun’s energy, one of the sources of its heat. The sun, unlike solid planets, does not have boundaries. It becomes less and less dense in its outermost layers. From Earth, we see the sun as a bright yellow ball, because the atmosphere scatters blue light. Sunrise and sunset are particularly beautiful because their colors vary due to the scattered light particles a longer trip through the atmosphere. The distance from the Earth to the sun is 150 million kilometers or one astronomical unit. If the sun was an inch closer to the Earth, the global temperature would increase by 0.1 degrees Celsius. This small number may not sound like much; however, this can have a great impact on Earth’s climate patterns. This is because the tilt of Earth’s axis is the primary cause of the seasons. That is why when the northern hemisphere, faces the sun it is summer from June, July, and August. When the southern hemisphere faces the sun is December, January, and February, it is summer there. As you can see, the sun is a very important aspect in our lives. From controlling the seasons, to painting the sky with pretty colors everyday, the sun is crucial to humanity, but could it also be the reason to end it?

Stars Consuming Planets

A star swallowing a planet is common especially when a star nears the end of its life. The sun is said to eventually run out of hydrogen fuel in its core. This will make the sun push it surface nearer to Earth until it makes a red giant. As a red giant, the sun will be the size of the Earth’s orbit or maybe even bigger. Therefore, it swallows the Earth and a few other planets in our solar system. Now, this is said to happen in 7.5 billion years, but could it be sooner? Main sequence stars enter their red giant phase after 5 billion years. The sun is a main sequence star and is about 10,000 degrees F at the surface. However, a red giant is only 5,800 degrees F. Which leads me to question, what would happen to Earth if the sun was cooler? The Earth would probably be covered with ice and the variety of life would be very different. Of course, this will not matter to us because we would be burned to the crisp in the process of the sun, a main sequence star, turning into a red giant. Scientists have recently discovered a star engulfing a planet 12, 000 light years away. They have named this process, “planetary engulfment”. Ergo, if we know that a star can engulf a planet, there is no reason that the sun is not able to do the same.

Earth’s Reaction

If this theory is true, and the sun will engulf Earth as well as everything in its orbit, how will Earth react? Earth will not survive the plasma that will superheat it. The rocks on the planet will melt away. However, the planet that is the furthest away from the sun, Neptune, may survive. The sun is 93 million miles from the Earth. A spaceship can get about 95 yards close to the sun before it burns. From this information we can conquer that the sun will disintegrate us before it even reaches us.

It is said that when a star grows everything around it will be engulfed, this includes Mercury and Venus in our solar system. According to a scientific study, the fate of Earth is that it will no longer be habitable, and we will need to migrate to a new planetary home. Mars will not be affected by the sun’s change; however, we do not yet know if we can live on Mars. After Earth is swallowed up by the sun, the sun will glow at least 100 times more bright. Since scientists have not found out if we are the only species in this galaxy or this universe, we do not know what happens if we all die. Will everything in the universe continue without us? Or will time as we know it stop? For all we know the existence of the universe has no purpose without humans to investigate it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is a high chance that the sun will engulf the Earth and when it does, we will evaporate so fast we would feel it for a split second. The Earth will cease to exist and are lives will no longer matter to the universe. Stars go through phases and the sun will eventually enter its red giant phase. Many questions were formed in the process of answering this wonder question, and the unfortunate news is that we will never be able to fully answer all of them. Nevertheless, we can get close to uncovering the truth. We know that the sun is a star, therefore, it goes through phases. My argument is that the sun will eventually become a red giant, but what does that mean for us? Well, the short answer is we die. Unless scientists discover a planet habitable for our living species. Until then, we should take care of our Earth by reducing carbon emissions, conserve water, and reduce, reuse, and recycle. Though our sun has a high risk of swallowing us, it also has the potential to move away from us, both result in tragic endings, but is one better than the other? Only time will tell.

 

 

 

Fluency Reflection on the Astronomy Wonder Project

• What questions did you need to research in order to reach your topic?

Here are some questions I needed to research in order to reach my topic.

• From controlling the seasons, to painting the sky with pretty colors everyday, the sun is crucial to humanity, but could it also be the reason to end it?
•  How fast would everything burn?
• Will this ever happen? If so, when?
• Could this lead to another big bang after we go extinct?
• How close would we need to be to the sun in order to burn ?
• The sun will swallow the Earth in 7.5 billion years, but could it be sooner?
• What would happen to Earth if the sun was cooler?
• What happens to humans when they fall into the sun?

 

• What new or familiar digital tools did you use?

I used the library’s webpage to use a website that gave me information about the sun and a word document to edit my grammar and save my work. I used Edublog, a familiar tool to piece my project together. To cite my sources, I used a citation machine and YouTube to gather further knowledge on my topic.

• What was the process you used to investigate the topic?

The process I used to investigate this topic was to research and write down what I understood in my own words to form paragraphs informing people about my topic. I first began by researching my topic and listing down points I wanted to make in order for my question to be fully answered. I then began writing and placed pictures to go along with what I was saying to make my statements clear.

• How did you verify and cite the information you found?

I verified and cited the information I found by using a citation machine and relying on Google Scholar. I found resources that were not suspicious or written by unknown people. During my research, I would check where my cite got this information from and pondered over whether it was suspicious or not. The citation machine I used is listed in my resources.

• How did the process of completing this challenge go? What could you have done better?

The process of completing this challenge was eventful. I learnt a lot of new facts about the sun and a theory that the sun might swallow us in 5 billion years or so. I could have further investigated smaller topics within my question, and planned out my report in a more organized way. However, I am proud of my work because I learnt new ideologies and facts through it. I enjoyed researching about other theories that relate to mine and I would love to do this project again !