07/07/2026
The Sun formed about 4.6 billion years ago, while Earth formed a little later, around 4.54 billion years ago. That means the Sun is indeed older than our planet.
Surprisingly, however, some of the water on Earth is even older than the Sun itself. Before our Solar System existed, vast clouds of gas and dust drifted through interstellar space. In these extremely cold clouds, water ice formed on tiny dust grains. When the Sun and planets later formed from this material, a portion of that ancient water survived the violent birth of the Solar System and eventually became part of Earth.
Scientists have found evidence that some of Earth's water molecules may have originated in these primordial molecular clouds, making them older than the Sun by millions of years. While much of Earth's water has been recycled through oceans, rivers, glaciers, and the atmosphere over billions of years, the hydrogen and oxygen atoms within some of those water molecules have a truly ancient cosmic history.