COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Scientists say the early Solar System's cosmic dust gave rise to primitive Earth over just five million years.
If the Solar System's existence is compressed into 24 hours, then the proto-Earth's creation did not take more than a minute.
According to the study published in Science Advances, the research team found that a type of meteorites known as CI chondrites are the closest iron isotope match to our planet and the bulk composition of the solar system itself.
In a news release, the University of Copenhagen says that the Sun once possessed an accretion disk.
After the young star cooled, the CI dust in the disk was allowed to settle on proto-Earth.
The university says the process would not be not possible unless the earlier iron had already migrated into the proto-Earth's nascent core.
That our planet's composition is similar to only one meteor type suggests it is not created from random collisions.