30th November 2016
Sunlight: World’s most ancient traveller
Sun, the pivotal element of the solar system, is a middle-aged star that is around 4.6 billion years old. This near-perfect sphere is made up of 70 per cent hydrogen and 28 per cent helium. With the amount of hydrogen left on it, it can survive for another 5 billion years. In the last stages of its life, it will begin burning helium. In this phase, the sun will grow in size and eventually consume Mercury, Venus, and Earth, till its collapse. Although the mass of the sun will remain the same after the collapse, its volume will reduce to about the earth’s current volume.
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