In a new study, scientists have found that Earth is made of the same elements as the Sun.
However, there are less volatile elements such as hydrogen, helium, oxygen, and nitrogen on Earth.
The study was done by researchers from Australia National University.
The composition of a rocky planet is one of the most important missing pieces to find out whether a planet is habitable or not.
Previous research showed other rocky planets in the Universe are devitalized pieces of their host stars, just like Earth.
In the current study, the team compared the composition of Earth rocks with meteorites and the Sun’s outer shell.
This comparison generated lots of information about the way the Earth formed.
The team found the new information can be used to explore the relationships between meteorite, planet and stellar compositions.
The team suggests every star had some kind of planetary system in orbit around it. The majority of stars probably have rocky planets in or near the habitable zone.
The researchers believe that their findings made the best estimate of the composition of Earth and the Sun.
They hope to create a new tool to measure the elemental composition of other stars and rocky planets that orbit them.
The lead author of the study is Dr. Haiyang Wang from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA).
The research is published in the journal Icarus.
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