What would happen to the Earth if the Sun suddenly switched off?

If the Sun miraculously disappeared, the Earth (and all the other objects in the Solar System) would continue their forward motion in a straight line off into space, instead of following their almost-circular orbits. For the Earth this means it would head off towards the stars at about 30km/s (67,000mph).

How cold would it be if the Sun died?

A relatively simple calculation would show that the Earth’s surface temperature would drop by a factor of two about every two months if the Sun were shut off. The current mean temperature of the Earth’s surface is about 300 Kelvin (K). This means in two months the temperature would drop to 150K, and 75K in four months.

What would happen if the Sun turned off?

Likewise, if the sun simply “turned off” (which is actually physically impossible), the Earth would stay warm—at least compared with the space surrounding it—for a few million years. But we surface dwellers would feel the chill much sooner than that. Within a week, the average global surface temperature would drop below 0°F.

How long would Earth be affected if the sun disappeared?

Light takes roughly eight minutes to reach Earth from the sun. For that reason, if the sun disappeared, we’d still see it in the sky for another eight minutes. But what about gravity? The sun is the anchor point of the solar system — at 333,000 times the mass of Earth, it exerts a hefty pull that keeps the planets locked in their orbits.

What would happen if gravity disappeared?

But what about gravity? The sun is the anchor point of the solar system — at 333,000 times the mass of Earth, it exerts a hefty pull that keeps the planets locked in their orbits. If all that gravitational force disappeared, it would still take us eight minutes to feel it.

What would happen if the Sun was frozen for an hour?

Aside from widespread panic and confusion, not much. Earth would cool as it does after sunset, and we would be kept warm by the heat retained in the atmosphere, oceans, and land as we are every night. This is with the assumption that the Sun is simply “frozen” for an hour — say, a giant bushel is put over it.