New research suggests that Theia, the object whose collision with Earth is theorized to have caused the formation of the moon, came from closer to the sun. Artist’s impression of the collision between ...

The story of how the Moon came to be has always carried a touch of mystery. Picture the young Solar System as a restless place where new worlds grew from swirling gas, dust, and rock. In that chaotic ...

Ryugu’s samples reveal that water activity on asteroids lasted far longer than scientists thought, possibly reshaping theories of how Earth gained its oceans. A billion-year-old impact may have melted ...

Crystals hidden in Australia’s oldest rocks have revealed new clues about how Earth and the Moon formed. The study suggests Earth’s continents didn’t begin growing until hundreds of millions of years ...

Blue oceans, green forests, a cozy blanket of oxygen. Our planet is a super comfy home. It’s hard to imagine there was ever a time it didn’t exist. I asked my friend Julie Ménard how Earth formed. She ...

Long before Earth formed, tiny mineral grains were already drifting through space, forged in the final breaths of dying stars. Those grains, older than our planet by billions of years, now sit in ...

The history of Earth is written on the great tablets of tectonic plates. The motions of plates shaped land masses, formed oceans, and created the varied climates and habitats that set the stage for ...