Researchers reconfirm that the life span of the sun is exhausted as a "planetary nebula"

byNASA,ESA, and theHubble HeritageTeam (STScI/AURA)

As a sun-like star, as the lifetime approaches "Main chain starFrom the state of "Red giantChange to. Then, it gently releases gas and dust. Eventually, this gas is illuminated by the light emitted by the star "Planetary nebulaIt will be called.

While it is a view that the last of the sun is this "planetary nebula", on the other hand, with the conventional star model, we know that it is impossible to form a visible planetary nebula with a stellar mass less than about twice the sun's mass , It was a problem among scientists, but this problem was solved by a new star model, and it was shown that the sun is still "a planetary nebula."

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https://www.sciencealert.com/what-will-happen-after-the-sun-dies-planetary-nebula-solar-system


This was done by Mr. Krzysztof Geshiki of Nicolaus Copernicus University, Albert Zilstra of Manchester University, Marcelo Miguel Miller Bertolami of La Plata Astrophysics Laboratory of Argentina and others.

The sun is about 10% brighter every about a billion years, and it is believed to change to a state of red giant stars after about 5 billion years from now. After that, the gas and dust of the sun will gradually flow out of the celestial body and eventually will be illuminated by the sun to form a planetary nebula. However, in order to follow this order, the mass of the sun had to be twice the current state based on the conventional research.

An example of a planetary nebula, NGC 2818

byNASA,ESA, and theHubble HeritageTeam (STScI/AURA)

Twenty five years ago, astronomers have noticed that all the planetary nebulae found in other galaxies are bright as well. The planetary nebula formed by an old and small star is supposed to be lighter compared to a younger and bigger star, but in real data there is a contradiction that even a star with a small mass is producing a bright planetary nebula, science The people thought that they were feeling distant.

In this time, Professor Zilistra and others predict a different life cycle depending on the stars. It shows that the sun is near the lower limit of the mass that can form a visible planetary nebula and cleared the problem. According to this new model, the visible planetary nebula can not be made with mass less than 1.1 times the sun, and if it is more than 3 times the mass of the sun, it can make a brighter planetary nebula. The brightness of the planetary nebula made by stars belonging to this time is very close to the actually observed data, Professor Zalstra stated "It is a very good result".

The research results are published in Nature Astoronomy.

The mysterious age invariance of the planetary nebula luminosity function bright cut-off | Nature Astronomy
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-018-0453-9