How Long Will the Sun Last? | The Institute for Creation Research

How Long Will the Sun Last?

Recent solar activity caused great concern among many people, including "New Age" prophecies that the sun was burning out, and the end was near. While we don't know the timetable for end-time events, we do know that giant solar flares shot far into space, producing beautiful displays of Northern Lights while disrupting the functions of communications satellites worldwide. We also know that such flares happen from time to time on the sun, related to its 11-year cycle of sunspots, and its rotating magnetic field. This series of flares in late October, however, was perhaps the largest ever record-ed, causing many to wonder, "just how long will the sun last?"

Courtesy of SOHO Project, NASADespite the pronouncements of overly enthusiastic astronomers, processes within the sun are not fully known, and controversy swirls around even their nature. The most common view of the sun's nature is related to uniformitarian ideas of stellar evolution, in which the entire solar system coalesced out of an inter-stellar cloud of mostly hydrogen, some five billion years ago. The vast majority collapsed into the center where it concentrated and eventually became so dense and hot that it spawned nuclear fusion, with some hydrogen combining to form helium, giving off unthinkable amounts of energy. Energy levels, and thus the sun's brightness, have increased over time to its present level. The earth and the other planets collected from the leftover dust, which included a wide array of other atoms and molecules. Parenthetically, in this theory, the sun was only about 40% as bright as now when life is thought to have evolved, thus the earth would have been completely frozen and inhospitable to life throughout most of its history.

Stellar evolution proposes that a star goes through many stages during its life, and astronomers can point to stars which appear to be at each stage. Most stars are quite unstable (our sun being a notable exception), periodically convulsing and erupting, throwing off vast amounts of material into space, all the while using up their internal fuel. A star "dies" when it runs out of energy or catastrophically explodes in a nova or super nova. We see the remnants today as expanding gas clouds, which are not contracting into new stars. In stellar evolution theory, our sun still has about five billion years of life left. Other theories of stellar life predict a shorter tenure, but still quite long.

Thankfully the Creator of stars has told us about the birth of the stars on Day Four of Creation Week (Genesis 1:17) and their ultimate destiny. They were created for man's use and enjoyment, and to bring the Creator great glory (Psalm 19:1). He has also told us that sin's penalty affects all of creation (Romans 8:20-22), and thus even stars "die." One day the heavens and earth will pass away, but will be made new once again (II Peter 3:10,13), with no scars of sin and death. The sun won't have the same function in eternity (Revelation 21:23), but it will continue forever (Psalm 148:3,6) and praise its Creator.

Cite this article: John D. Morris, Ph.D. 2004. How Long Will the Sun Last?. Acts & Facts. 33 (1).

The Latest
NEWS
The Origin of Metabolism
Metabolism is the totality of chemical reactions that manage all of the molecular, material, and energy resources within an organism. Part of a creature’s...

NEWS
Bumblebee University
Entomologists, biologists who study insects, continue to uncover amazing discoveries regarding the intellect of bees1,2 Now, biologists...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Struck: Risking It All for the Truth | Creation.Live Podcast:...
In this unique episode, host Trey talks with three key people involved in creating Struck—an upcoming miniseries that shows the special ties between...

NEWS
Giant Ants Buried in Receding Flood Rocks
Evolutionary scientists are baffled by a large ant fossil found in British Columbia, Canada. Known as Titanomyrma, this same ant had been found previously...

CREATION PODCAST
Why Do Animals Hibernate? | The Creation Podcast: Episode 45
The word hibernation is often used in reference to deep sleep, but what is it really? What kinds of creatures hibernate? How does this demonstrate the...

NEWS
Thalattosuchians—Extinct Crocodile Relatives?
The Thalattosuchia are an extinct group of marine crocodylomorphs (a group that includes the crocodiles) that allegedly transitioned from land to water...

NEWS
The Star-Nosed Mole
The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) is a fascinating semi-aquatic mammal found in eastern Canada and the United States. Moles (placental mammals)...

NEWS
The Hexagon: An Indication of Order and Design in Nature
In nature, noncoincidental patterns and geometry exist everywhere. But the number six appears to overshadow nature’s mathematical landscape. Whether...

NEWS
Neanderthal Crab Bake
The evolutionary science community said it perfectly in their headlines: “Proof that Neanderthals ate crabs is another 'nail in the coffin'...

CREATION PODCAST
Is There Any Truth to Dragon Legends? | The Creation Podcast:...
Dragons are considered by many to be made-up creatures in fairytales and legends, but our ancestors produced many descriptions and depictions of "dragons,"...