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Jupiter is the oldest planet in the Solar System, according to research by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Its solid core grew to 20 times the size of Earth in its first million years, and it likely “ate up” much of the debris circling around. Chemical analysis of ancient meteorites helped determine Jupiter’s age and origin.
Less than a million years after our Solar System began, Jupiter began to melt around a rocky core. Millions of years later, Jupiter has become the largest planet in the Solar System and, according to new research by scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, it’s also the oldest planet. The research focused on the chemical analysis of ancient meteorites that landed on Earth, usually pieces of space rock from the large asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
In the beginning there was Jupiter:
Composed of cosmic remnants from the formation of our Solar System, asteroids carry chemical fingerprints from the ‘Big Bang’ in the form of isotopes, which help scientists determine their age and origin.
Researchers believe Jupiter’s solid core grew to 20 times the size of Earth in its first million years. Presumably, Jupiter’s gravity “eaten up” much of the debris circling around.
The fifth planet from the Sun, Jupiter is 2.5 times larger than all other planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter and Saturn are considered gas giants, while the other two giant planets in our solar system, Uranus and Neptune, are known as ice giants.
