How old is the solar system

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Why does a building with base isolation resist better to an earthquake than a building without base isolation? Getting at the timing of how long we went from debris in the nebula to a proper planet is still being actively researched, but studies looking at extinct isotopes elements whose decay rate means they don't exist in our solar system anymore suggest that it might have only taken a few tens of millions of years -- pretty short compared to the age of the solar system.

What about stuff that might be even older than that? This Murchinson meteorite takes us back even before the solar system may have formed! Looking at how isotopes of certain elements like neon formed on this dust, this new work by Philipp Heck and others determine that the dust in the Murchinson meteorite might be up to 3. That makes them potentially 7 billion years old! This dust is the remnants of other stars that pre-date our Sun, but they are some of the first evidence of the material that was around our neck of the galaxy long before the Sun started to shine.

How far back can we conceivably get? This is a question without an answer at this time. Astronomers, looking at stars in other galaxies to peer back into the history of the universe, suggest that our galaxy is around This isn't the same kind of date as Earth scientists have collected -- there is no solid material that we're examining and measuring.

However, it does leave the window open for the discovery of stuff even older than the 7 billion-year-old dust of the Murchinson meteorite. Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter. View our Privacy Policy. By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. Login or Register Customer Service. RISE —. PHASE —.

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Last chance to join our Costa Rica Star Party! When the gasses of the early solar nebula began to cool, the first materials to condense into solid particles were rich in calcium and aluminum.

Eventually solid particles of different elements clumped together to form the common building blocks of comets, asteroids, and planets. The the Allende meteorite of was the first to show inclusions that were extremely rich in calcium and aluminum. It took 40 years for the spectra of the inclusions to be discovered and then extrapolates to very old asteroids still in orbit around the Sun.

Additionally, the Universe is thought to have been created about Measuring two long-lived radioactive elements in meteorites, uranium and thorium, has placed the age of the Milky Way at in the same time frame. From these measurements, it appears that large scale structures like galaxies formed relatively quickly after the Big Bang.