How long is the Sun, a relatively average-sized star, expected to shine?
Answer
About 10 billion years
The Sun represents a benchmark for stellar aging due to its status as a relatively average-sized star in the stellar population. Astrophysical models estimate that stars comparable to our Sun have an expected lifespan centered around ten billion years during which they remain stable on the main sequence, fusing hydrogen in their cores. This duration is substantially longer than massive stars, which exhaust their fuel rapidly, but drastically shorter than the incredibly long lifetimes predicted for the smallest red dwarf stars.
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