Earth Much Older Than Thought, Experts Say
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Earth became a major planetary body much earlier than previously believed, just 10 million years after the birth of the sun, researchers say.
Experts believe that the inner solar system planets -- Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars -- actually began forming within 10,000 years after the nuclear fires of the sun were ignited about 4.5 billion years ago, said Stein B. Jacobsen, author of an analysis published in the journal Science. Within 10 million years, the Earth had reached about 64% of its present size.
