The Solar System
≈ 4.6 billion years ago
Cosmic TimeThe Solar System
From a cloud of gas and dust.
A vast cloud of gas and dust collapsed under gravity and formed the Sun and a disk around it. That disk gathered into planets, moons and asteroids.
The oldest solid material in meteorites is about 4.6 billion years old. Earth’s age of 4.54 billion years opens the next era. Both are estimates.
4.6 billion years ago, placed on the scale of its era on a line leading toward now.
- Era
- Cosmic Time
- Period
- ≈ 4.6 billion years ago
- Edition
- 1/1
- Status
- Not Released
Background artwork
Cinematic background showing the Sun and planets of a young Solar System. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. Sizes and distances are not to scale.