The solar system as we know it began life as a vast, swirling cloud of gas and dust, twisting through the universe without direction or form. About 4.6 billion years ago, this gigantic cloud …

Most of the collapsing mass collected in the center, forming the Sun, while the rest flattened into a protoplanetary disk out of which the planets, moons, asteroids, and other small Solar System …

Dec 20, 2020 · The formation of the solar system is a challenging puzzle for modern astronomy and a terrific tale of extreme forces operating over immense timescales. Let's dig in.

Apr 12, 2025 · Dive into solar system formation. Learn how the sun was made and how our planets were born from cosmic dust.

Aug 29, 2022 · The solar system is a pretty busy place. It’s got all kinds of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets zipping around our Sun. But how did this busy stellar neighborhood …

4 days ago · In the ancient world, theories of the origin of Earth and the objects seen in the sky were certainly much less constrained by fact. Indeed, a scientific approach to the origin of the …

In 2007, researchers at the University of California–Davis determined that our Solar System was fully formed at 4.568 billion years ago. They did this by determining the age of stony materials …

When the Solar System first formed 4.5 billion years ago it was a violent place. But quickly, by 4.4 billion years or so ago, the planets of the Solar System had calmed into a familiar configuration …

The Sun and the planets formed together, 4.6 billion years ago, from a cloud of gas and dust called the solar nebula. A shock wave from a nearby supernova explosion probably initiated …

The central condensation eventually formed the Sun, while small condensations in the disk formed the planets and their satellites. The energy from the young Sun blew away the …