What is the fate of a star like our sun

Our sun is a relatively smaller star. It doesn't have enough fuel or mass to do anything cool like a supernova. But here's the probable fate of our sun. Once it's core runs out of hydrogen fuel, the core will compress itself due to it's own gravity. As the core contracts and heats up, the outer layers of the sun will expand, causing the Red Giant effect. The outer edge of the our sun would then be just beyond the orbit of Earth. Since hydrogen fusion creates helium, that would be the next fuel it would consume. The core will eventually become hot enough to cause the helium to fuse to make carbon. Once the helium fuel is gone the core will expand and cool, leaving the outer layers to expand and eject material. Eventually the core will cool into a white dwarf, and then followed by a black dwarf.

Fun fact though, a teaspoon size amount of white dwarf matter would weigh about 5.5 tons. This is because although the radius of the white dwarf will be approximately 1/100 the size of the star it used to be, it's mass is still the same. High mass in a small volume = high density.

Eveolution of a STAR: The next phase is a Red Giant - Where it will destroy the Earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_evo…