Забавен типичный способ проникновения подобных сенсаций в самые солидные российские интернет-издания. Например, Cnews.ru передает эту новость под названием "Голландский астрофизик полагает, что до взрыва Солнца осталось лет шесть". Источник: по материалам Yahoo. Точная ссылка не указана, видимо, коллеги стесняются - новость старовата. Но при некотором терпении конкретную ссылку можно отыскать. А там рукой подать и до первоисточника - Weekly World News - типичная "желтая пресса" с передовицей про "тарелочки". Вот эта самая наша "новость" - между такими же "новостями" про компьютера-извращенца и коровьи лепешки от СПИДа.
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Более того этот вопрос рассматривался на "астрономических курьезах" год назад:

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Will the sun go supernova in six years and destroy Earth (as seen on Yahoo)?

I recently read an article that I found initially disturbing, but after
reading the information on this site regarding the sun, I feel much more calm.
However, I am curious as to whether the article I read carries any merit
whatsoever.

Is Dr. Piers Van der Meer an established astrophysicist? Is the European Space
Agency a respectable organization? Do they have some sort of hidden agenda for
promoting such an astonishing theory? Essentially, do these people know what
they're talking about?

I hadn't seen this article before, so thanks for bringing it to my attention.
You're right to be skeptical, for several reasons!

First, the sun is too small to ever go supernova, so the basic premise of the
article is incorrect. There just isn't enough mass in our sun to cause it to
explode and collapse to form a neutron star or black hole.

Also, I haven't been able to find out any information on this guy "Dr. Piers Van
der Meer". There's an online database, called the Astrophysics Data System, that
keeps records of Journal articles published in astronomy/astrophysics/planetary
science. Even beginning graduate students will show up in the records because
they've usually been to at least one conference, and as soon as you have a couple
papers about your reaserch it's easy to find out what you're doing and where you
work. But this person doesn't show up in the system at all! I looked him up using
a search engine and he doesn't seem to have a web page affiliated with any
organization. So if he's a serious astrophysicist, he hasn't published papers or
appeared at conferences before, and isn't part of a major organization.

Also, the article claims he's associated with the European Space Agency (ESA)
(which is a real, credible organization), but when you look at their website
there's no mention of this press release at all. So it's not endorsed by them,
apparently.

The article was also written for "Weekly World News", which is one of those
papers that tends to publish fictional stories and half-truths, or distort the
truth to get a sensationalistic story. And there are some truths to the story.
For example, SOHO is a satellite that is run jointly by ESA and NASA, and it does
take images of giant flares and prominences, which are like giant explosions on
the sun. Flares and prominences happen all the time, and although they may cause
aurorae or interfere with communications, they're really not a big deal. SOHO has
lots of cool images; you can check them out at the SOHO website. Notice they
don't say anything about the sun exploding either.

A few people have requested more information about the temperature of the sun.
The temperature at the center of the sun is about 16 million degrees Kelvin (27
million degrees Fahrenheit), as stated in the article. As the sun burns up its
hydrogen, helium builds up in the core, and the core contracts. This contraction
causes heating, so the internal temperature of the sun is increasing over time.
However, this temperature change in the hydrogen burning sun is very slow! In the
book "The New Solar System", Kenneth Lang states that as a result of the core
contraction and heating, the surface temperature has gone up 300 K over the past
4.5 billion years. When the sun exhausts its hydrogen supply (in a few billion
years) the sun will become a red giant star, which has a much hotter,
helium-burning, core but actually a lower surface temperature. (The Astro 201
website has a good webpage about the sun's evolution, if you want an explanation
of the transition to red giants.) The current surface temperture of the sun is
about 5780 Kelvins. Since surface temperature determines a star's color, the sun
would actually appear blue if its surface temperature had doubled! Everyone would
be able to notice that. Also, the Weekly World News article claims that people
measured temperature trends "in recent years", which (besides being vague) is a
very short time in the life of the sun. Temperature measurements over a few years
really won't tell you anything about the long term behavior of the sun.

So, I think what happened is that Weekly World News pieced together some truths
and found some person willing to add a few extra things to make the story
exciting. It's certainly not credible astrophysics!

October 2002, Lynn Carter
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В тезисах:
- наше Солнце имеет слишком маленькую массу, чтобы стать сверхновой и
сколлапсировать в нейтронную звезду или черную дыру
- Dr. Piers Van der Meer отсутствует в онлайн БД Astrophysics Data
System, которая хранит все мало мальские публикации по теме астрономии
и т.п.
- European Space Agency существует, но там нет никаких намеков на
подобные материалы, равно как и Ван дер Мира
- Статья была написана для Weekly World News, который славится
постоянной генерацией мусора
- Температура солнечного ядра порядка 16 млн. грд. Кельвина, она
меняется чрезвычайно медленно. Температура поверхности порядка 5780 К.
Поскольку температура поверхности определяет цвет звезды, то в случае
увеличения температуры в два раза Солнце приобрело бы голубой цвет.

Не говоря уже у том, что астрофизики бы уже давно на ушах стояли и
какая бы температура у нас за окном стояла...

Также эта новость присутствует в списке легенд на
http://www.snopes.com/science/sunboom.htm