• Question: do you think that there will be a planet where humans could inhabit when our sun dies?

    Asked by malindi22 to Willem, Fiona, Aled, Kev on 11 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Willem Heijltjes

      Willem Heijltjes answered on 11 Mar 2014:

      Hi Malindi22!

      It will take a long, long time before the sun dies – unimaginably long! So we have plenty of time to look for a new spot to pitch our tent 😉 And what’s very exciting now, is that scientists are finding nice and cosy planets everywhere! Well, not as nice as earth just yet, but it looks like we’ll be able to find one that is just right, or at least, “good enough” 🙂

    • Photo: Aled Roberts

      Aled Roberts answered on 11 Mar 2014:

      Hey malindi22!

      There is almost certainly a planet out there that we could inhabit when our sun dies (as Willem says it will take a long time for this to happen) however wether we have the ability to travel there is another thing! But at least we have time to find a means of getting there!

      🙂

    • Photo: Kevin Arbuckle

      Kevin Arbuckle answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      As the others have said, there are a lot of planets that we theoretically should be able to inhabit, but getting there will be the problem! However, it’s so far in the future that not only would we have time to figure it out, but humans will probably be exinct by then anyway. Species don’t tend to exist for more than a few million years (maybe 10-20 million years at the most), and for mammals, which include humans, the average ‘lifespan’ for a species is only about 1 million years. Since the sun should ‘live’ for a few billion years yet, it’s almost certain that humans will be long gone before that happens. On the plus side, that does mean we don’t have to worry about it 🙂

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