The universe may have begun with the big bang which occurred 13.8 billion years ago, but it was only after one billion years that galaxies start to form. The age of the Solar System and that of the planet Earth is approximately 4.54 billion years old. This is based on the age of meteorites which are believed to have been formed the same time as the rest of the Solar System.
Modern scientific concepts and technologies provided new information and new ways of understanding the Solar System. Early scientists were limited to describing the structure of the Solar System, which started the debate between the proponents of the geocentric model and those of the heliocentric model.
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