No — the Sun will not explode as a supernova. It’s too light. Instead it will swell into a red giant, shed its outer layers as a planetary nebula, and end up as a cooling white dwarf over the next several billion to trillion years. NASASpace
Why not a supernova? (plain language)
There are two common ways a star can produce a supernova:
-
Core-collapse (Type II / Ib / Ic): happens when a very massive star (roughly > 8 times the Sun’s mass, often much more) runs out of fuel, its core collapses catastrophically, and the outer layers are blasted away. The Sun is far too low in mass for this fate. spaceplace.nasa.govDutton Institute
-
Thermonuclear (Type Ia): happens when a white dwarf in a close binary gains enough mass (usually by accreting from a companion or merging with another white dwarf) to reach the Chandrasekhar limit (~1.4 M☉) and detonates. The Sun is a single star (no nearby companion to dump mass onto it in that way), so it won’t become a Type Ia supernova. Discover Magazinespaceplace.nasa.gov
Because the Sun’s mass is too low for core collapse and it lacks the binary setup for a Type Ia, no supernova for our Sun. NASA
The Sun’s actual end-of-life story — step by step (with rough times)
-
Today → ~5 billion years from now: the Sun is ~4.6 billion years old and in the middle of its main sequence life, fusing hydrogen into helium in its core. In roughly ~5 billion years the core hydrogen will be exhausted. SpaceWikipedia
-
Subgiant → Red giant (next ~1 billion years): the core contracts and heats, hydrogen fusion moves to a shell, the Sun’s outer layers expand enormously and the luminosity rises. It will become a red giant and likely expand beyond the present orbit of Mercury and Venus — whether Earth is engulfed depends on details of mass loss and orbital changes, but conditions on Earth will be uninhabitable long before any engulfment. Spacesupernova.eso.org
-
Helium fusion & thermal pulses: the core will eventually fuse helium into carbon and oxygen (but the Sun never reaches temperatures/densities to fuse much heavier elements). After later asymptotic-giant-branch (AGB) evolution the Sun will lose lots of mass in strong winds. Dutton InstituteSpace
-
Planetary nebula phase (short, ~10⁴ years): the Sun will blow off its outer layers; the hot exposed core ionizes that gas creating a glowing planetary nebula (beautiful but brief on cosmic timescales). supernova.eso.org
-
White dwarf (then trillions of years): the leftover core will be a carbon–oxygen white dwarf of roughly ~0.5–0.6 solar masses (estimates vary), about the size of Earth. It will cool slowly over enormous times (eventually becomi
Why the Sun can’t make heavy eng a hypothetical “black dwarf” far in the future). WikipediaCliffsNoteslements or explode
To make the iron and heavier elements and trigger core collapse a star needs many more shells of fusion and a core that reaches much higher temperatures and densities — something only massive stars can do. The Sun will never reach those internal conditions, so it will not make an iron core nor undergo catastrophic collapse. Dutton Institute
So — practical consequence for us
-
No cosmic “bang” from the Sun. Its death is gentle (astronomically speaking): expansion, slow shedding of layers, and a dim compact remnant. NASAsupernova.eso.org
-
The lethal thing about the Sun’s future is heat and expansion during the red-giant phase: Earth’s surface becomes uninhabitable long before anything like a supernova.
Nice — I made a labeled timeline graphic showing the Sun's next major stages and saved it for you.
What the timeline shows (quick summary):
-
Now (present) — the Sun is ~4.6 billion years old and stably fusing hydrogen in its core.
-
~5 billion years from now — core hydrogen runs out; the Sun leaves the main sequence.
-
Shortly after (~5.0–5.1 Gyr) — the Sun expands into a red giant; helium fusion ignites in the core (the "helium flash" for low-mass stars).
-
~a little later (~5.4–5.5 Gyr) — the Sun becomes an asymptotic giant and loses large amounts of mass in strong stellar winds.
-
~5.5 Gyr — outer layers are ejected and briefly glow as a planetary nebula (this phase lasts only ~10⁴ years).
-
Afterwards — the remaining core becomes a carbon–oxygen white dwarf (roughly 0.5–0.6 M☉) and will cool for an extremely long time.