New research sheds light on the earliest days of the earth's formation and potentially calls into question some earlier assumptions in planetary science about the early years of rocky planets.

In a new study, astronomers report novel evidence regarding the limits of planet formation, finding that after a certain point, planets larger than Earth have difficulty forming near low-metallicity ...

Scientists involved in planetary formation studies, meteorites, and early solar system investigations have been wondering about the origins of the ingredients that made up the planet Earth. Studies on ...

Planetary scientists have long debated where the material that formed Earth comes from. Despite its location in the inner solar system, they consider it likely that 6–40% of this material must have ...

Scientist have concluded water did not arrive as early during Earth's formation as previously thought, an insight that bears directly on the question of when life originated on the planet. The finding ...

Old crystals found in Western Australia are drawing fresh attention from geologists studying the formation of Earth. These minerals, called zircons, have been dated to be older than four billion years ...

The formation and stabilization of Earth’s early continental crust marked a crucial step in planetary evolution, enabling long-term climate regulation and driving major shifts in global geochemical ...

Continental clues: Modern continental rocks carry chemical signatures from the very start of our planet’s history, challenging current theories about plate tectonics. Researchers have made a new ...

New research from Rice University suggests that the giant planet Jupiter reshaped the early solar system in dramatic ways, carving out rings and gaps that ultimately explain one of the ...