What would happen to the Earth if the Sun suddenly switched off?
Is probably the single most popular question submitted to What If.
And it's been answered already – a search for what if the Sun went out turns up a lot of excellent articles thoroughly analyzing the situation.
However, there are a few aspects of this scenario I thought other answers were missing, so I've decided to add my two cents.
We won't worry about exactly how it happens. We'll just assume the Sun for some reason becomes a cold, inert sphere.
What would the consequences be for us here on Earth? Better astronomy: Without the Sun, ground-based observatories would be able to operate around the clock.
The cooler air would create less atmospheric noise, which would reduce the load on adaptive optics systems and allow for sharper images.
Improved satellite service: When a communications satellite passes in front of the Sun, the Sun can drown out the satellite's radio signal, causing an interruption in service. Deactivating the Sun would solve this problem.
Easier trade: Time zones make trade more expensive; it's harder to do business with someone if their office hours don't overlap with yours.
If the Sun went out, it would eliminate the need for time zones, allowing us to switch to coordinated universal time and give a boost to the global economy.
