New close-up photos of a distant, dying star reveal what will eventually happen to our Sun
Chi Cyngi is a variable star in the northern constellation Cygnus (the Latinized Greek word for "swan").
It is about 550 light-years away from Earth and is very similar to our own Sun, except that it is in the throes of death.
"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," according to a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics press release.
"Moreover, it has begun to pulse dramatically in and out, beating like a giant heart. New close-up photos of the surface of this distant star show its throbbing motions in unprecedented detail."
"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.
At that time, the entire surface of the Earth will be a sea of molten lava.
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