The Sun is an ever-present fixture in the human condition. It has been worshipped in various cultures for thousands of years. A new study has now shown that the venerable star is now in its middle age and within just a few billion years it will be dead as we know it. A new study from the European Space Agency has estimated the Sun’s current age to be roughly around 4.57 billion years, which puts it comfortably in its middle age.

“With an age of around 4.57 billion years, our Sun is currently in its comfortable middle age, fusing hydrogen into helium and generally being rather stable; staid even,” the agency stated.

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But as the Sun progresses further in its lifecycle it is expected to slowly get larger and larger as the hydrogen fuel runs out in its core, leading to the slow spiral that will result in the Sun becoming a white dwarf. How long till this happens? When the Sun is approximately 10-11 billion years in age.

“As the hydrogen fuel runs out in its core, and changes begin in the fusion process, we expect it to swell into a red giant star, lowering its surface temperature in the process,” the ESA said in its release.

The scientists at the organisation were able to come to these estimates using the latest data from ESA’s star mapping Gaia mission. The spacecraft’s third major data release (DR3) was made public on June 13, 2022, which included data about hundreds of millions of stars.

Orlagh Creevey, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, France, and the team of researchers at Gaia’s Coordination Unit 8 used the data to find 5863 stars that had a similar temperature, surface gravity, composition, mass and radius to that of the Sun. Using these stars, the team estimated the age and potential life cycle of the Sun while also getting to learn more about the star.

“If we don't understand our own Sun – and there are many things we don’t know about it – how can we expect to understand all of the other stars that make up our wonderful galaxy,” said Creevey.

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The Sun is recently undergoing a state of rapid activity as it enters a new solar cycle. Astrophysicists and astronomers have observed 17 coronal mass ejections and nine sunspots over just the past week on our star.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)