An astonishing discovery.
Instead, an international team of scientists behind the research say, it appears to be a remnant of an ancient protoplanet — making the space rock an extraordinary curiosity that could offer unprecedented insights into the early years of our solar system.
, an analysis of radioactive decay of the sample's isotopes now shows that it formed around 4.566 billion years ago. That's a bit longer than the Earth has been around, meaning that it's likely part of a different — and probably now long-gone — world.But since it's now the oldest magmatic rock ever identified, the researchers wrote in their paper, it's almost certain to be an object of intense further analysis.
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