{"id":2000124309,"date":"2026-08-31T13:23:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000124309"},"modified":"2026-08-31T13:24:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:24:02","slug":"scientists-say-rocky-planets-could-have-formed-100-million-years-after-the-universe-began","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/scientists-say-rocky-planets-could-have-formed-100-million-years-after-the-universe-began\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists say rocky planets could have formed 100 million years after the Universe began"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Big Bang is the name scientists give to the rapid expansion from the Universe\u2019s extremely hot and dense early state, which began about 13.8 billion years ago. As the Universe expanded, it cooled and eventually formed stars, galaxies and planets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Universe is about 13.8 billion years old. Scientists have generally believed that rocky planets needed to form later, after early generations of stars had produced and distributed enough heavy elements into space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new study examined the first stars, known as Population III stars. These stars were extremely massive and ended their lives in powerful supernova explosions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When they exploded, they released heavy elements such as carbon, oxygen and iron into surrounding clouds of gas. These elements are important building blocks for rocky planets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers focused on pair-instability supernovae, exceptionally powerful explosions that can release more than 100 times the mass of the Sun in heavy elements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their simulations suggest that material from these explosions could have enriched nearby gas clouds. As the clouds collapsed under gravity, they may have formed rotating disks around young stars, similar to the disk that eventually produced the planets in our Solar System.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one simulation, scientists found a planet-forming disk around a young star with about 70 percent of the Sun\u2019s mass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disk contained enough solid material to potentially produce several Earth masses of planetary building blocks at a distance comparable to Earth\u2019s position around the Sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The simulations also indicated that water may have been present in these early disks. Although the amount was lower than in the material that formed our Solar System, it was still substantial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers stressed that the findings do not prove that habitable planets existed so early. Instead, they show that the conditions required for rocky planet formation may have appeared surprisingly soon after the Universe began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discovery could reshape scientists\u2019 understanding of how early planets formed and raises the possibility that potentially habitable worlds may have emerged much earlier in cosmic history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Scientists say the ingredients needed to form rocky planets may have existed just 100 million years after the Big Bang.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rocky planets may have been able to form much earlier in the Universe\u2019s history than previously believed, according to new research from the University of Portsmouth. Computer simulations suggest that the ingredients needed to build rocky planets could have existed just 100 million years after the Big Bang.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":2000124310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000124309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":2000122457,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-12.00.00-PM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 12.00.00 PM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":2000122457,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-12.00.00-PM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 12.00.00 PM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000124310,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/rocky-exoplanet-in-space.webp","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/webp","width":1920,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/rocky-exoplanet-in-space.webp","width":1920,"height":1080},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/rocky-exoplanet-in-space.webp","width":1920,"height":1080},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/rocky-exoplanet-in-space.webp","width":1920,"height":1080},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/rocky-exoplanet-in-space.webp","width":1920,"height":1080},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/rocky-exoplanet-in-space.webp","width":1920,"height":1080}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000124309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000124309"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000124309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000124326,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000124309\/revisions\/2000124326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000124310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000124309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000124309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000124309"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000124309"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000124309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}