Calculated by the lab
- Luminosity-adjusted orbital flux
- Global temperature
- Habitable-zone boundaries
☀️ Age the Sun
Replace the Sun with a simplified red giant and move the habitable zone outward.
A brighter star pushes the computed habitable zone far outward.
Building the laboratory: star, orbit, planet, atmosphere...
What actually happens
In roughly five billion years the Sun is expected to leave its main-sequence phase and expand into a red giant. Earth will become uninhabitable much earlier as solar luminosity rises.
The scenario instantly selects the simulator's red-giant star type. Its assigned luminosity and Earth's unchanged orbit drive a new energy input, global temperature, and habitable-zone range, all of which the lab computes.
The star graphic and orbital distances use display scaling so they fit on one canvas. The lab does not evolve the Sun through stellar stages, predict engulfment, or model the future solar system's changing masses and orbits.
How the simulation unfolds
Each step is labeled so you can tell a calculated result from an explanatory visual or wider scientific context.
- Changed input
Select a red giant
The Sun is replaced instantly by the registry's simplified red-giant star.
- Computed
Energy and temperature rise
Stellar luminosity, orbital flux, global temperature, and habitable-zone boundaries are recalculated.
- Illustrated
The warm band moves outward
Orbit view redraws the star and habitable-zone band with compressed display scales.
- Scientific context
This future is billions of years away
Real stellar evolution is gradual and changes more than luminosity alone.
What is computed, illustrated, and not modeled
Shown to explain the result
- Expanded star
- Outward-shifted habitable-zone band
Outside this model
- Stellar evolution timeline
- Solar mass loss and orbital migration
- Engulfment of planets
Model scope: The red giant is an instant preset, and the canvas is not drawn to a common physical size or distance scale.