News Astronomy

The universe may have been building rocky planets almost from the start

The planets may have been water-rich worlds

An illustration of the planetary disk in the universe

The universe’s first planets may have formed 100 million years after the Big Bang in a dusty disk around small, young stars like this one (illustrated).

NASA-JPL

By Mara Johnson-Groh

The universe’s first rocky planets may have gotten their start astonishingly early — perhaps only 100 million years after the Big Bang.

Explosions of some of the universe’s first massive stars could have created isolated pockets rich enough in dust and elements like iron and carbon to form the building blocks of planets, a new computer simulation suggests.