Interestingly, this might explain why it ended up being orbited by 8 planets and why life emerged on Earth

Apr 11, 2015 09:15 GMT  ·  By

In a report published earlier this week in The Astrophysical Journal, researchers with the Space Telescope Science Institute explain that, in their early days, galaxies like our Milky Way form stars at a mind-bogglingly rapid pace. 

Specifically, they undergo a so-called stellar baby boom that has them produce stars about 30 times faster than they do when they mature and all the commotion in their entrails begins to ease.

In the case of the Milky Way, this stellar baby boom happened about 10 billion years ago. Our Sun, however, is estimated to be merely 5 billion years old. What this means is that, unlike other stars, it arrived late to the galaxy.

Interestingly, it is believed that it was precisely because it was a late boomer that our parent star ended up being orbited by as many as 8 planets. What's more, the late formation of the Sun might also explain the emergence of life on Earth.

Thus, scientists say that, by the time the Sun formed, the Milky Way was most likely saturated with heavy elements. These elements all originated from stars that lived and died prior to the Sun's birth, and encouraged the formation of planets.

Besides, the Space Telescope Science Institute team of astronomers have reasons to believe that among the remains of our parent star's predecessors in the Milky Way were the elements that became the building blocks of life on our planet.

The Milky Way
The Milky Way

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