Scientists “truly astonished” by discovery that challenges Earth’s origin story

ETH Zurich planetary scientists Paolo Sossi and Dan Bauer compared meteorite isotopic data with Earth's composition and concluded that all of Earth's material came from the inner Solar System, with less than 2% or zero contribution from outer material. The study is published in Nature Astronomy.

• Material from beyond Jupiter contributed less than 2% of Earth's mass, possibly nothing
• Analysis covered 10 isotopic systems instead of the usual two
• Earth's composition matched Mars and asteroid Vesta
• Jupiter likely acted as a barrier to outer material