I read the pinned thread and I can give you guys full context, but I can't tell you guys what I've tried because I haven't. This isn't homework, numbers have never been a talent of mine and I wouldn't even know how to even begin calculating these things. The bottom line is that I want the book to be mathematically accurate and I need to rely on someone who knows physics. I have no idea if these calculations are something extremely complex or something simple anyone with highschool education can do, I wouldn't know, but I thank you if you feel like helping me.
The context is that I'm writing a catastrophe-themed sci-fi book that contains the element of the sun losing mass and all the implications of such event. I basically need to know how the variables average distance between the sun and Earth, perceived luminosity on Earth and Earth's orbit length would change based on the loss of mass of the sun. I have them here as they are today:
If the sun loses 50% of its mass, will the average distance between Earth and sun increase by 50%, the perceived luminosity decrease by 50% and Earth's orbit length increase by 50%? I doubt it's this linear so I need help from someone willing to do these calculations. Again I don't know how complex these calculations are so I have no idea if I'm asking something extremely complex or simple, so don't get me wrong here.
Ideally I'd like to know what the variables would look like in "installments" of -5% in the sun's mass. I.e. what they would look like at 95%, 90%, 85%, etc.