Will Earth survive the red giant sun? New research suggests yes
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Join our 2026 Donation Campaign today. A new study suggests Earth might have a fighting chance of surviving the sun’s eventual death. About 5 billion years from now, our sun will exhaust its hydrogen fuel and begin expanding outward to become a red giant star that swallows Mercury and Venus.
Earlier studies had suggested Earth would meet the same fate. But new calculations from researchers in Belgium and France say it might escape. The outcome relies on two competing factors: gravitational tidal interactions and solar mass loss.
Together, they could determine whether Earth spirals inward into the expanding sun or drifts outward to safety. There’s a catch, though: even if Earth escapes, its surface would still become hostile to life. The somewhat hopeful peer-reviewed results were published in Astronomy & Astrophysics on June 19, 2026.
KU Leuven also released a statement about the study on ARGO.net. Earth could escape the Sun’s final expansion after all. New modeling suggests lower tidal dissipation may let it drift outward instead of being swallowed in about 5 billion years.
doi.org/rcbf — Science X / Phys.org (@sciencex.bsky.social) 2026-06-19T15:40:16-04:00
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