Astronomers know that our solar system formed about 5 billion years ago from material left over from previous generations of stars. However, beyond that, it gets a little murky.
The prevailing theory is that a nearby supernova explosion compressed a dense cloud of gas and dust until it collapsed in on itself due to its own gravity. As the cloud condensed, it grew hotter and spun faster. Eventually, the center of the cloud grew so hot it began fusing hydrogen into helium and became the star we lovingly call the Sun.
But according to a study published December 22 in the
Astrophysical Journal, the solar system instead may have formed inside the dense shell of an enormous bubble within a giant star. The study not only provides a fantastical scenario for our solar system’s formation, but also addresses a long-standing mystery concerning our solar system’s chemical makeup.
The new theory for how the solar system formed starts with an extremely massive star known as a Wolf-Rayet star. Of all the stars in the universe, these stars burn the hottest. Because they are so hot, they also have exceptionally strong stellar winds.
