earth

This piece of rock is 4.4 BILLION years old. DAYUM!

esearchers involved in the discovery said that the discovery was of high scientific value. Earth's crust formed relatively quickly after the formation of our planet, and this little gem is a remnant of the original crusty crew. According to the University of Wisconsin scientist who led the investigation, John Valley, the survival of the crystal suggests that the early planet was not quite as harsh a place as commonly accepted in the scientific community. It lends support to the "cool early Earth" theory, which says that hydrosphere and liquid water existed before 4.3 billion years ago.

Via Huffington Post:

The irregularly shaped hole spans about 400,000 kilometers (250,000 miles) at its widest point, said Dr. C. Alex Young, associate director for science for the heliophysics division at the space agency's Goddard facility in Greenbelt, Maryland. Its total surface area is about 410 times that of the Earth, he said (see below for size comparison).