Red giant will begin to expand into a subgiant. Eventually, the pressure builds up so much that the core will begin to fuse helium, and will expand even more into a red giant. At its largest, its surface (photosphere) will approximately reach the current orbit of Earth. It will then lose its atmosphere completely; its outer layers forming a planetary nebula and the core a white dwarf. The evolution of the Sun into and through the red-giant phase has been extensively modelled, but it remains unclear whether Earth will be engulfed by the Sun or will continue in orbit. The uncertainty arises
Giant star This causes the outer layers to expand even further and generates a strong convective zone that brings heavy elements to the surface in a process called the first dredge-up. This strong convection also increases the transport of energy to the surface, the luminosity increases dramatically, and the star moves onto the red-giant branch where it will stably burn hydrogen in a shell for a substantial fraction of its entire life (roughly 10% for a Sun-like star). The core continues to gain mass, contract, and increase in temperature, whereas there is some mass loss in the outer layers. If the star's