Scientists: Water on Earth is older than the sun and solar system
Some 30 to 50 percent of the water on Earth was created more than 4.5 billion years ago and is older than the solar system and the sun, researchers say.
Their study, published Thursday in Science, says there is a distinct chemical in the water found on Earth and throughout the solar system — a situation that could only happen if some of the water was formed before planets, moons, comets, and asteroids. "It's pretty amazing that a significant fraction of water on Earth predates the sun and the solar system," Ilse Cleeves, an astronomer at the University of Michigan and study leader, told the Los Angeles Times.
Scientists are still trying to determine how water made it to Earth, as the protoplanetary disk in which the planet was formed was too hot for ice water or liquid to exist. There are two theories: one is that the water came from ice that formed in the cloud of gas that formed the sun and our solar system, and the other is that the energy of a star birth split apart interstellar water, and it was reprocessed within the protoplanetary disk that would form planets.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Read more about the chemistry and computer models used by researchers for this study at the Los Angeles Times.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
5 fact-checked cartoons about Meta firing its fact checkers
Cartoons Artists take on playing chicken, information superhighway, and more
By The Week US Published
-
NCHIs: the controversy over non-crime hate incidents
The Explainer Is the policing of non-crime hate incidents an Orwellian outrage or an essential tool of modern law enforcement?
By The Week Staff Published
-
Islamic State: the terror group's second act
Talking Point Isis has carried out almost 700 attacks in Syria over the past year, according to one estimate
By The Week UK Published
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talks
Speed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Taylor Swift wraps up record-shattering Eras tour
Speed Read The pop star finally ended her long-running tour in Vancouver, Canada
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamation
Speed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' ignite holiday box office
Speed Read The combination of the two movies revitalized a struggling box office
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Jussie Smollet conviction overturned on appeal
Speed Read The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the actor's conviction on charges of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Quincy Jones, music icon, is dead at 91
Speed Read The legendary producer is perhaps best known as the architect behind Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
OJ Simpson, star athlete tried for murder, dead at 76
Speed Read The former football hero and murder suspect lost his battle with cancer
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Momofuku's 'Chili Crunch' trademark uproar
Speed Read The company's attempt to own the sole rights has prompted backlash
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published