Outer Planets' Doom: 1 Billion Years After Sun Dies

New research indicates that the outer planets of our solar system face a chaotic end approximately one billion years after the Sun's demise. This finding drastically reduces the predicted lifespan of their stable orbits, which were previously thought to last for quintillions of years.

Scientists at Caltech used high-performance supercomputers to simulate the solar system's evolution. Their models incorporated the Sun losing mass not through a smooth process, but via violent, random ejections. This contrasts with earlier theories suggesting a more gradual shedding of mass as the Sun transitioned into a white dwarf.

Previous estimates suggested the outer planets would remain stable for billions of years after the Sun's death, potentially only being disrupted by passing stars. However, this new study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, posits that the Sun's erratic mass loss will trigger instability much sooner, around one billion years after it becomes a white dwarf.