The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star currently in the most stable phase of its life, steadily fusing hydrogen into helium. Stellar evolution dictates that the Sun is not massive enough to end its life in a catastrophic supernova explosion; it would need at least eight to ten times its current mass. By entertaining the hypothetical scenario of a rapid, catastrophic energy release, we can explore the immediate, violent, and long-term consequences for Earth and the Solar System.
The Initial Eight-Minute Warning
Any change to the Sun, including the final burst of light or the cessation of its gravitational pull, would take about eight minutes and twenty seconds to reach Earth. This delay is due to the 150 million kilometer distance and the speed of light. For that brief duration, Earth would remain physically unchanged, still orbiting a star that no longer exists, bathed in the last light that had already left the Sun.
The first true sign of the explosion would arrive as an intense wave of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. This pulse, consisting primarily of X-rays and gamma rays, would instantly impact the side of the Earth facing the blast. This initial wave would be followed by a slower-moving, but even more destructive, thermal wave.
Immediate Planetary Destruction
The initial surge of X-rays and gamma rays would strike the Earth’s atmosphere with such intensity that it would immediately ionize and vaporize the air on the day side. This high-energy pulse would strip away atmospheric gases, creating a shockwave that causes instantaneous, global devastation.
Almost immediately, the main thermal wave of the explosion would reach the planet. The energy released would turn the day side of Earth into a superheated, molten landscape. Surface materials, including rock, soil, and water, would be instantly vaporized, transforming the entire hemisphere into a superheated plasma. This thermal pulse would effectively sterilize the planet’s surface, eradicating all life.
The night side would not escape destruction, as the shockwave and thermal energy would wrap around the planet. Although not immediately vaporized, the night side would experience an atmospheric furnace, with heat far greater than the Sun’s normal surface temperature. The entire planet would be subjected to a brief but complete environmental collapse, leaving behind a scorched, lifeless sphere.
The Fate of the Solar System
At the moment the final light and destructive radiation reach Earth, the gravitational tether connecting the planet to the Sun would vanish. The planet would immediately cease its orbital motion and fly off in a straight line, tangent to its former orbit, at approximately 30 kilometers per second. Earth would become a rogue world, hurtling through interstellar space, detached from the Solar System.
Once the initial heat dissipated, the temperature drop would be rapid. Within a week, the average global surface temperature would plummet below the freezing point of water. Within a year, the temperature would dip to –73 degrees Celsius (–100 degrees Fahrenheit).
The surface layers of the oceans would rapidly freeze, forming an insulating shell. This shell would prevent the water underneath from freezing solid for hundreds of thousands of years. The planet’s core would continue to generate heat through radioactive decay, allowing liquid water and chemosynthetic life to persist near deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Eventually, millions of years later, the planet would stabilize near absolute zero, around –240 degrees Celsius (–400 degrees Fahrenheit), radiating only residual interior heat.