Joseph Lazio wrote in message ...
"WB" == Wolfgang Beyer writes:

WB Hi, So far I know, the sun will become to a red giant in about 4
WB to 5 billion jears. In an Article of the german version of
WB "Scientific American" ("Spektrum der Wissenschaft") of october
WB 2004 about the future of the earth climate influenced by the
WB development of the sun, they write that the sun will become to a
WB red giant in 7.8 billion years. Is that really the newest and best
WB estimation so far? What about the reliability of present computer
WB models of the sun? I would expect minor uncertainties as the
WB difference between 4-5 to 7.8 billion years.

WB Furthermore I am interested in additional data concerning the
WB future time dependence of primary parameters of our sun like
WB diameter, power or surface temperature. Who knows a paper or web
WB site providing that?

See

I.-J. Sackmann, A. I. Boothroyd, & K. E. Kraemer
1993, "Our Sun. III. Present and Future," ApJ, 418, 457
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/np...pJ...418..457S

Hi, any chance for Jupiter being "initiated" into a star?

http://puck.dhs.org/iau