Approximately 4.6 billion years ago, our solar system formed from a cloud of gas and dust called a solar nebula that swirled around, eventually collapsing under its own gravity into a rapidly rotating ...

This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW follows scientists analyzing meteorites—the oldest rocks in the solar system—to determine what triggered the birth of our solar system from a vast cloud ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The shock wave from an exploding star likely helped trigger the formation of our solar system, ...

Before the Earth and other planets formed, the young sun was still surrounded by cosmic gas and dust. Over the millennia, rock fragments of various sizes formed from the dust. Many of these became ...