Many people are rightfully concerned about the impending climate crisis that will almost definitely have an irreversible effect on the world as we know it, but scientists have now warned that an even more horrifying future is in store for our planet.
The world will continue to turn well beyond the point that all of us are dead, and some have even shared a collection of the most significant events in the future that almost no human will ever life long enough to experience for themselves.
That might just be a blessing in some cases though, as far into the very distant future exists an inevitability for Earth that will leave our planet destroyed, and it's key to an ominous new warning led by astronomers from University College London.
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As reported by the Daily Mail, this event will happen in roughly 5 billion years – give or take a few – and will see the Sun at the center of our solar system burn the last remaining hydrogen fuel, causing it to expand into an all-encompassing red giant.
This will result in the Sun either consuming our planet in its entirety or tearing it to pieces, and neither is a particularly appealing prospect.
It is all linked to what's known as a 'post-main sequence' stage for stars like the Sun, which as revealed in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, details the point at which a balance is disturbed between the inward force of gravity and the outward push of nuclear fusion reactions inside its core.
After this, the Sun will expand anywhere between 100 and 1,000 times in size, and then it's easy to understand why Earth – being in such close proximity to the Sun – would be potentially caught in the crossfire.
With two planets closer to the Sun though it's not necessarily guaranteed that Earth as an object would be destroyed, but the chances of any humans actually continuing to live in the event that Earth wasn't consumed by the central star are incredibly slim.
Dr Edward Bryant, the study's lead author, estimates that "life on the surface would not survive," adding:
"The expansion of the Sun would drastically increase the level of radiation received at the surface of the Earth, dramatically increase the surface temperature and render the planet uninhabitable."
Luckily, this will happen so far into the distant future that you don't have to worry about anyone connected to you ever having to experience this, but you might still feel somewhat empathetic for any humans that might still exist by that point, as their chances of survival are not looking good.