JAIPUR, Jan 18: The sun, an essential source for sustenance of life on earth, will become two hundred times bigger than its present shape and will swallow planets like earth, Venus and Mars.But that should not start ringing alarm bells for earthlings because that will happen in a distant future -- about six billion years from now, says noted astrophysicist Dr Jayant Vishnu Narlikar.
By then, ``our descendants will be so advanced'' that they will probably erect a colony on Jupitor before the sun sets on its course of expansion to become a mega star,'' Dr Narlikar told a packed audience at the Birla Auditorium delivering the annual Khailshankar Durlabhji memorial oration here last night.
He said the sun was at present a medium size star, sustained by continuous nuclear fusion reactions inside its core with the gravitational force towards inside countered by gaseous pull from inside to maintain an equilibrium and keep it in the present shape.
However, the process will make the sun expand -- a natural
course in star's life- which will see it become 200 times bigger engulfing even our earth into its super hot gaseous environment.
Once the sun becomes a mega star, it will start puffing out its peripheral gaseous layers to shrink and finally become a ``dwarf star'', he said. Presenting a brief history of man's endeavour to understand mysteries of universe, Dr Narlikar, who is recognised world over for his discovery of astrophysical applications for a Whitehole, said the quest for solving the unknown frontiers of space would continue forever with the end of the search never in sight.
The astronomical observations have taught us that simply ``seeing is not understanding''. Whenever we understand a phenomenon of the universe, we come to the conclusion that it is not the end of the quest. The unravelling of mysteries of universe is a continuing story for which, fortunately, no end is in sight.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
