The Sun eventually will become

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The question asks about the eventual fate of the Sun. To reason through the possibilities, we consider stellar evolution for a star like the Sun, which is a low-to-intermediate mass star.
Option 1: 'a white dwarf.' This aligns with our understanding that after the Sun leaves the main sequence, it will expand into a red giant, shed its outer layers, and leave behind a dense core that becomes a white dwarf. This outcome is well-supported by stellar evolution theory and observational evidence from white dwarfs of similar mass.
Option 2: 'a nova.' A nova is a transient event that occurs in a binary system where a white dwarf accretes material from a companion. It is not an end state of a single Sun-like star; it requires mass transfer from another star to trigger thermonuclear runaway on a white dwarf's surface. Therefore, this is not the Sun's eventual fate.
Option 3: 'a neutron star.' Neutron stars form from the cores of very massive stars after a supernova explosion. The Sun simply does not have enough mass to end its life in a core-collapse supernova; it will not reach the conditions needed to compress matter into neutrons. This makes a neutron star an unlikely outcome for the Sun.
Option 4: 'an M-type main-sequence star.' An M-type main-sequence star is itself a type of star on the main sequence, not a remnant. The Sun will not revert to or become a different-typed main-sequence star after its post-main-sequence evolution; instead, it leaves the main sequence and ends as a white dwarf.
Option 5: 'a black hole.' Black holes form from the most massive stars after certain endpoints like supernovae or direct collapse. The Sun does not possess enough mass to reach that stage, so becoming a black hole is not consistent with standard stellar evolution for solar-mass stars.
In summary, considering the mass and evolutionary path of the Sun, the reasoning points toward the white-dwarf end state, while the other options describe endpoints or phenomena that require different conditions (binary interactions, extreme mass, or different evolutionary channels) that do not apply to the Sun.

EESC1120.01|.02 Summer 2025 Our Home Amongst the Cosmos [Kruckenberg] Week 2: Quiz

The Sun eventually will become

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