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Solar System Date of Birth Determined

Posted by samzenpus on from the was-it-on-a-monday dept.

Invisible Pink Unicorn writes "UC Davis researchers have dated the earliest step in the formation of the solar system — when microscopic interstellar dust coalesced into mountain-sized chunks of rock — to 4,568 million years ago, within a range of about 2,080,000 years. In the second stage, mountain-sized masses grew quickly into about 20 Mars-sized planets and, in the third and final stage, these small planets smashed into each other in a series of giant collisions that left the planets we know today. The dates of these intermediary stages are well established. The article abstract is available from Astrophysical Journal Letters."

7 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. Profound...(All we are is dust in the wind) by nebaz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To think that the span of a human life is at best about 1/250 millionth of that cycle. Light from distant stars does eventually get here, it just happens on timescales that are beyond imagination.
    Such a shame that we occupy such a small blink in the process, and can't witness cosmic events on any larger a level.

    --
    Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
    1. Re:Profound...(All we are is dust in the wind) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nah, you have it backwards. It is not a shame that our lives are short. I find it inspiring that we have come so far despite this shortness, and we have built instruments that let us actually see all those cosmic events, and even put them in perspective ;)

  2. Re:Margin of Error by CensorshipDonkey · · Score: 5, Informative

    -- to 4,568 million years ago, within a range of about 2,080,000 years. And i was born 22 years ago, within a range of 10 years Pretty big error (almost 50%)

    Incorrect. 2 million years is less than 0.05% of 4.5 billion years. Pretty damn precise, relatively speaking. Read the units on the text you cited.
  3. Re:So many gifts..! by xPsi · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...to 4,568 million years ago, within a range of about 2,080,000 years.

    Similarly, I've discovered my birthday to be defined as subsequent to July.
    At a glance it might seem like a crude measurement, but its really about 4 parts in 10000, which is really quite good. This would be like knowing your birthday to within 4 hours during the year (better than I know my own birthday off the top of my head, to be honest).
    --
    i\hbar\dot{\psi}=\hat{H}\psi
  4. Give him a BREAK! by gardyloo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeesh, you people are so negative! The hint is right there in his username!

  5. Re:4,568 million years divided by 7 days by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Psst...it's all the offshoots (I'm looking at you, Baptists) that are causing problems. The Catholic church is rather keen on astronomy an evolution nowadays. Not so much on the gays and condoms, but it's a start.

    --
    Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
  6. Re:4,568 million years divided by 7 days by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One man says "it is right to protect the children." The other says "it is right to kill three a day." We should clearly compromise - no more then one child a day, two on weekends!

    But seriously. No, we can't. We don't compromise between a fiction and hard fact just because lots of people happen to believe the fiction.