Tomorrow is the big day. The inauguration of the 47th president of the United States will take place on the 20th of January inside the United States Capitol rotunda in Washington, DC. No matter how important and consequential many believe this event will be, the change in administration will serve only as a milestone in the world’s biggest economy becoming a Red Giant.
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A main-sequence star, such as our Sun, converts hydrogen into helium in a slow and steady manner; radiating an immense amount of heat and visible light in the process. By the time our central star will have used up most of its hydrogen — about 4 to 7 billion years from now — it’s outer layers will begin to expand. Having lost its internal equilibrium the Sun will eventually transform into a red giant, scorching then absorbing all inner planets. After the red giant phase it will shed its outer layers, and will become a small, dense, cooling star — a white dwarf. It will no longer produce energy by fusion, but it will still be glowing incandescently until it slowly fades away… In about a trillion years.