Dear Austin,

The Sun will continue to shine pretty much as it does now for another 5 billion years, according to astronomer's calculations. But then, the hydrogen in the core will all have gone into helium, and the core will contract under gravity's force, making the core heat up and then helium will fuse into carbon, then nitrogen and oxygen, etc. An outer layer of hydrogen will burn into helium, heating the outer layers of the Sun and making the Sun expand into a red giant, so the Sun will expand, and be cooler and redder on the surface. During the red giant phase, the Sun will expand past the orbit of Mars, so we'll be toast. But that is 5 billiion years from now. We need to be more worried about what is happening to the Earth now, due to global warming caused in part by human-created pollution! Maybe you can become involved in an environmental club at your school, or start a school wide recycling program if there isn't one already.

many thanks for your question

Isabel