You’ve got lots of great questions today 🙂 This is another pretty tough one to answer! According to NASA this is the oldest planet is pictured in the link below. They dont seem to have given it a name, but it looks quite cool.
Another really interesting question! There are so many planets out there in the universe that’s it’s really difficult to tell which one is the oldest out of EVERYTHING. However the oldest planet that scientists currently know about is called PSR B1620-26 b (what a rubbish name eh!) which is 12.7 billion years old (our Earth is only 4.5 billion years old in comparison).
If we wanted to travel to this planet, it would take 12,400 years travelling at the speed of light. So it’s unbelievably far away!
No-one actually knows. The best theory for how the Universe created is the Big Bang Theory. From this massive explosion all matter, everything in the Universe today was created. From all the dust and gases after the explosion stars started to form. Once stars form they caused lumps of rock to come together and create planets.
Since planets are created just after stars form, the oldest planets will be orbiting the oldest stars. The oldest star that has been found with planets is 12.8 billion years old! The star was created about 1 billion years after the big bang. Scientists cannot measure the age of the planet itself unless they actually get a satellite onto it and take samples (unfortunately it’s a very long way away, so this is impossible). Instead they assume that the planets are around the same age as the star, over 12 billion years.
Comments
jem123 commented on :
do u like being a scientist
Jemma commented on :
Absolutely love it 🙂 it means I know the answer to questions like this, and it’s just a lot of fun!
Emily commented on :
Yeah it’s great fun, with every day being different. Sometimes it’s hard work but it’s rewarding too 🙂