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Old 04-03-2007, 08:13 AM   #12 (permalink)
Jras0001
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gooner View Post
Can somebody find some sort of picture that estimates how big the sun will be when it turns into a red giant?
And how close it will be to our beloved planet.


I will try to use this information to decide whether I need to pack more than just shorts for holiday when it happens.

Im on my way to class now but when I get back, Ill look on some of the charts I got from class and compare other stars that are red giants that have the relative same mass and other characteristics of our sun and see what size they are. That will give a relativly close idea of what it will become. Like the poster above me stated, its possible that it will swell to beyond the earths orbit but it may not. There is a star, I believe Arturas (but I could be wrong since thats off the top of my head) that is a red giant and is 500 times the diameter of our sun. If it was where our sun is today, its outer edge would eclipse mars' orbit.
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