The oldest known planet
A gas giant forms almost 13 billion years ago, when the universe barely had the elements to build one.
- When
- Known to
- ± 500 million years
- Era
- Galaxy Assembly, Stelliferous
PSR B1620-26 b, nicknamed Methuselah, orbits a pulsar and a white dwarf in the globular cluster M4 and is roughly 12.7 billion years old — some three times the age of Earth. Its existence was a surprise: globular clusters are metal-poor, and planet formation was thought to need heavier elements than were available so early. It pushes the origin of planets back nearly to the origin of stars.