"The Formation of the First Living Worlds: A Glimpse into the Past"

The formation of the first living worlds is a complex process that involves the right type of star, chemical enrichment, and a stable environment. Stars with the right characteristics, such as not being too massive or too short-lived, are necessary for habitable planets to form. Planets also require sufficient heavy elements, time for their environment to settle down, and the right conditions for life to emerge and thrive. The earliest habitable worlds may have arisen in galaxies that ceased forming stars billions of years ago. While it's plausible that life may have arisen in the Universe before the billion-year threshold, the prevalence of life on planets beyond Earth remains unknown.