calcium-aluminum–rich inclusions (CAIs) tagged posts

Solar System Formed in Less than 200,000 Years

solar system formation
Artist’s conception of the dust and gas surrounding a newly formed planetary system. Image courtesy of NASA

A long time ago—roughly 4.5 billion years—our sun and solar system formed over the short time span of 200,000 years. That is the conclusion of a group of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists after looking at isotopes of the element molybdenum found on meteorites.

The material that makes up the sun and the rest of the solar system came from the collapse of a large cloud of gas and dust about 4.5 billion years ago...

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