Study suggests Earth may avoid engulfment during Sun's red giant phase

Scientists have announced that Earth may escape the fate of being swallowed by the Sun as it ages into a red giant. A new study, published in *Nature Astronomy*, models the Sun’s future evolution and finds that the planet’s orbit could widen enough to keep it safely outside the expanding stellar envelope, even as the star loses mass and its outer layers balloon outward.

The research, led by Dr. Elena García of the University of Cambridge, uses advanced simulations of stellar mass loss and tidal forces to track the Earth’s trajectory over the next five billion years. The models suggest that as the Sun sheds a significant portion of its mass, the gravitational pull on Earth weakens, allowing the planet’s orbit to drift outward by a few percent. This orbital expansion, combined with the Sun’s reduced gravitational grip, could keep Earth at a safe distance from the Sun’s scorching surface, preventing the engulfment that many earlier scenarios predicted.

While the study does not guarantee Earth’s survival—other factors such as planetary perturbations and solar activity remain uncertain—it offers a more optimistic outlook for the long‑term habitability of our planet. The findings underscore the importance of continued research into stellar evolution and planetary dynamics as humanity looks toward the distant future of the Solar System.