Artist's impression of Chi Cygni. As the red giant star runs out of fuel, it pulses in and out, beating like a giant heart and ejecting shells of material. Credit: ESO/L. CalçadaFrom Cosmos:
CAMBRIDGE: New images of the surface of a distant, dying star offer a preview of the ultimate fate of our own Sun, French scientists say.
"This work opens a window onto the fate of our Sun five billion years from now, when it will near the end of its life," said lead author Sylvestre Lacour of the Observatoire de Paris.
About 550 light-years from Earth, a star like our Sun is writhing in its death throes. Chi Cygni has swollen in size to become a red giant star so large that it would swallow every planet out to Mars in our solar system.
Moreover, it has begun to pulse dramatically in and out, beating like a giant heart.
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