7,000,000,000 A.D.
7 billion years from now: The sun enters the phase
of Red Supergiant. 10,000 times brighter than today, it eventually swells
to a radius of 1 AU. Merkur and Venus are already destroyed, and the surface
of Earth begins to melt. The original atmosphere is gone, only to be replaced
by hot rock and metal vapour. The sun is now so bright and hot that its
upper atmosphere is lost into space. If the sun should loose more than
17% of its mass this way, Earth may escape its final doom by moving to
an orbit farther out...
The outer planets and their icy moons thaw and undergo
substantial changes.
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