Earth formed faster than initially believed, experts say
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Cosmic dust found in meteorites that crashed on Earth has revealed the shocking detail that the planet formed within 5 million years, significantly faster than first believed.
The research, published in the journal Science Advances, analyzed different iron isotopes in dust from different meteorites and found that the profile of CI chondrites was similar to Earth’s. With this information, the precursor to Earth, known as a «proto-Earth,» formed within 5 million years. If the galaxy’s 4.6-billion-year-old existence were shortened to one 24-hour period, the Earth took about one and a half minutes to form, the researchers said in a statement.
The «C» stands for carbonaceous and the «I» is for Ivuna, a locale in Tanzania where some of these meteorites have been discovered.
They may not look like much, but CI chondrites – small fragile meteorites as shown here – are thought to be our best compositional equivalents of the bulk material of our solar system. (Credit: University of Copenhagen)
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«Not only is this implication of the rapid formation of the Earth interesting for our solar system,» the study’s lead author, Martin Shiller, said in the statement. «It is also interesting to assess how likely it is for planets to form somewhere else in the galaxy.»
Experts had previously believed that the Earth would have taken «several tens of millions of years» or between 5 and 15 minutes in a 24-hour period to form.
«We start from dust, essentially. Millimeter-sized objects, all coming together, raining down on the growing body and making the planet in one go,» Shiller added, noting that as the dust particles join together via gravity, more dust particles are attracted and the planets are made in one cosmic shot.
It is believed that the dust from the CI meteorites best represents the overall composition of the Solar System.
The study’s co-author, Martin Bizzaro, added that the findings may give researchers new insight into planet formation that is happening all over the universe and perhaps the presence of water and even life.
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«Now we know that planet formation happens everywhere,» Bizzarro said in the statement. «When we understand these mechanisms in our own solar system, we might make similar inferences about other planetary systems in the galaxy.»
«If the theory of early planetary accretion really is correct, water is likely just a by-product of the formation of a planet like the Earth – making the ingredients of life, as we know it, more likely to be found elsewhere in the universe,» Bizzarro added.
