How Did the Solar System Form? The tale of our sun may begin with another star: a predecessor whose fiery death brought about the birth of our solar system.

– Gavriel, age 10, Paducah, Kentucky A cloud of collapsing gas created our Sun, the first thing to form in our solar system. This happened about 4½ billion years ago.

In today’s lesson, we’ll have: How did the solar system form? What is a “planet” and who decided that? Just how much space is in space?

The textbook picture of how planets form—serene, flat disks of cosmic dust—has just received a significant cosmic twist.

– Gavriel, age 10, Paducah, Kentucky A cloud of collapsing gas created our Sun, the first thing to form in our solar system. This happened about 4½ billion years ago.