Other than a star's normal life cycle, could any external factors make our sun turn into a supernova?

Question

Not that I'd want to be around when something like this would happen (I'd be sure to stock up on sunscreen just in case), but after reading an article about supernovas, I wondered if anything could theoretically happen to our sun to make it die prematurely, or if supernovae only occur at the end of a star's life cycle. If so, we're toast--literally. :-D Any insights?

Answer 1

The sun will not go supernova, because only stars that are more massive than 8-10 solar masses can do so.

The Sun will continue to very quietly fuse its central hydrogen into helium for the next five billion years or so. The core will become pure helium, which will then fuse to carbon in a relatively short time. Finally, the carbon at the core cannot get hot enough to fuse into other type of nucleus. The carbon core can no longer sustain the Sun's energy and collapses under its own weight, much as the more complex cores of massive stars do. However, electrons in the core act to resist the collapse, and the core of the Sun will become what is known as a white dwarf.

When the star is much bigger the evolution is different. The core fusion will go on, via oxygen, silicium up to iron. But eventually the gravitational collapse will come. However, because the star is so much bigger, the collapse will have more punch.

Some really strange physics takes place during this implosion. Basically, only neutrons can survive the collapse, and  the core becomes what is known as a neutron star. The core then becomes stable. The core collapse suddenly stops, and the core, like a squeezed sponge, bounces back, releasing a huge amount of energy: supernova.

So to turn the Sun into a supernova, you'd need to give it a lot of extra mass.

Answer 2

The only way for our sun to go SN is if it and a massive star collided and merged (stars can do this) creating a single star with enough mass to eventually go SN.