Organic molecules are found in star forming regions, stellar remnants and interstellar gas, all throughout the Milky Way. In principle, the ingredients for rocky planets and life on them could have come about quite quickly in our Universe, long before Earth ever existed. (NASA / ESA and R. Humphreys (University of Minnesota))

Ask Ethan: How Fast Could Life Have Arisen In The Universe?

It took the Universe 9.2 billion years to create the Earth, and another 4 billion for complex life. Could we have gotten there faster?

The story of how the Universe came to be the way it is today, from the Big Bang to the vast void of space littered with clusters, galaxies, stars, planets, and life, is the one story we all have in common. From our perspective here on Earth, it took about 2/3rds of our shared cosmic history before the Sun and Earth were even created. Yet life appeared on our world as far back as we’re able to measure: perhaps as much as 4.4 billion years ago. It makes one wonder if life in the Universe predated our planet, and, for that matter, how far back life could possibly go? That’s what Matt Wedel wants to know, as he asks:

How soon after the Big Bang would there have been enough heavy elements to form planets and possibly life?

Even restricting ourselves to the type of life that we would recognize as being “like us,” the answer to this question goes back farther than you might ever imagine.