• Question: how long ago was the earth,sun,moon founded???

    Asked by rawlingd16 to Yasmin, Natasha, Jemma, James, Davide, Craig, Charlie on 26 Jan 2017.
    • Photo: Jemma Rowlandson

      Jemma Rowlandson answered on 26 Jan 2017:


      The Sun formed about 4.5 billion years ago, and it was not as hot then as it is now. Without the Sun we actually wouldn’t have the Earth or the Moon at all! Before the Sun existed there was a very large star, much larger than the Sun, and it exploded when it died throwing out lots of dust and gas. The Sun formed from the leftovers of this explosion.

      As the Sun formed it got hotter, pulling in more of the dust and gas swirling around it. Eventually other clumps of dust and gas began to stick together as well, these became the planets in the solar system. This is how the Earth formed, which happened just after the Sun, so the Earth is also 4.5 billion years old.

      Finally when the Earth was young a very large object, about the same size as Mars, collided with Earth and caused a large chunk to break off. This became the moon. So although there are a few million years between them, the Sun, the Moon and the Earth are actually about the same age; 4.5 billion years.

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