Recently discovered isotopic evidence and accumulated astronomical observations by a group of Arizona State University astronomers and meteorite researchers argue for a history of development of the Sun, the Earth and our Solar System that is significantly different from the traditionally accepted scenario. Most astronomers, for years, have imagined that the Sun and Solar System formed in relative isolation, buried in a quiet, dark corner of a less-than-imposing interstellar cloud.The new theory challenges this conventional wisdom, arguing instead that the Sun formed as a by-product of the chaos wrought by intense ultraviolet radiation and powerful explosions that accompany the short but spectacular lives of massive, luminous stars in a violent nebular environment.