Planetary scientists have long debated where the material that formed Earth comes from. Despite its location in the inner solar system, they consider it likely that 6–40% of this material must have ...

The source of Earth's water is an enduring mystery that extends to exoplanets and the notion of habitability. In broad terms, Earth's water was either part of the planet from the beginning of its ...

Earth may owe some of its properties to a nearby star that blew up just as the solar system was forming. This pattern, which saw a supernova bubble envelop the sun and shower it with cosmic rays, may ...