Sun's evolution could trigger solar system orbital chaos

Scientific research suggests the long-term evolution of the solar system may be more chaotic than previously estimated. The Sun, currently a stable G2V-type yellow dwarf, is expected to transition into a red giant in approximately five billion years as its hydrogen reserves are depleted.

While it was once believed that the outer planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—would maintain stable orbits even after the Sun loses mass, a new study published in ‘The Astrophysical Journal Letters’ proposes a different timeline. Researchers argue that the Sun's mass loss will not be a smooth, gradual process as Isaac Newton and other scientists once theorized. Instead, the star may undergo violent, random ejections known as stochastic pulses.

These episodic mass losses could trigger orbital instability in the outer planets. Rather than remaining stable for tens of billions of years, these gas giants could enter a phase of orbital chaos approximately one billion years after the Sun becomes a white dwarf, significantly accelerating the timeline of solar system disintegration.