NASA Unveils New Theory on Earth's Life-Critical Elements

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The image is dominated by a dusty disk extending from upper left to lower right and tilted toward the viewer. It resembles patchy clouds with small rocky bits scattered throughout. At 4 o'clock and 11 o'clock are two small, embedded planets. The outer edges of the disk are reddish, the middle orange, and the inner region yellow-white. At the center is a gap within which is a bright white star.

This is an artist's impression of a young star surrounded by a protoplanetary disk. Darker rings in the disk are where objects like planetesimals are forming, clearing a path through the debris.

Credits:

Illustration: ESO

NASA-supported scientists have provided new information about how the early Earth may have acquired some elements necessary for the planet to become habitable. They also suggest a new role for Jupiter in the distribution of these elements throughout the young solar system. The study, published today in Science Advances, examines this history by looking at the ratio of phosphorus to nitrogen in iron meteorites and in younger objects known as chondrites.

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