“Doctor Who” may be science fiction, but the show often features real-life scientific phenomena, including the Sun’s eventual expansion and resulting death of the Earth in the episode “The End of the World.”
In this episode, humans (well, the LAST human), along with multiple other intelligent species, are on board a space station, attending a gala set up specifically for bidding the Earth farewell.
The fact is that the Sun *will* expand in the future, causing the Earth to bake in its presence.
In 1.1 billion years from now, the Sun will be 10% brighter than it is today. This extra energy will cause a moist greenhouse effect in the beginning, similar to the runaway warming on Venus. But then the Earth’s atmosphere will dry out as the water vapor is lost to space, never to return.
In 3.5 billion years from now, the Sun will be 40% brighter than it is today. It will be so hot that the oceans will boil and that water vapor will be lost to space as well. The ice caps will permanently melt, and snow will be ancient history; life will be unable to survive anywhere on the surface of the Earth. The Earth will resemble dry hot Venus.
What will become of humanity?
As the great Carl Sagan said, we must become spacefaring in order for the species to survive.
Can we do it? Can we be like all of those life forms in the show, living elsewhere in the galaxy or Universe but able to make a trip back to the solar system to see the end of the Earth?
With a Penny4NASA, we may be able to create some of the things necessary to have even a glimpse of what the species will need to survive in the future.
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/18847/life-of-the-sun/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0562997/
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