Graphical timeline of the universe


This more than 20-billion-year timeline of our universe shows the best estimates of major events from the universe's beginning to anticipated future events. Zero on the scale is the present day. A large step on the scale is one billion years; a small step, one hundred million years. The past is denoted by a minus sign: e.g., the oldest rock on Earth was formed about four billion years ago and this is marked at -4e+09 years, where 4e+09 represents 4 times 10 to the power of 9. The "Big Bang" event most likely happened 13.8 billion years ago; see age of the universe.

ImageSize = width:773 height:2000
PlotArea = left:60 right:60 bottom:45 top:45
AlignBars = early
Colors =
id:period1 value:rgb # light yellow
id:period2 value:rgb # light blue
id:events value:rgb # light purple
id:time1 Value:yellowgreen
id:time2 value:lightorange
id:elapse1 Value:coral
id:elapse2 Value:lavender
id:grayKindOf Value:gray
id:WhiteDwarf Value:rgb
id:phanerozoic value:rgb
id:cenozoic value:rgb
id:mesozoic value:rgb
id:paleozoic value:rgb
id:precambrian value:rgb
id:proterozoic value:rgb
id:neoproterozoic value:rgb
id:mesoproterozoic value:rgb
id:paleoproterozoic value:rgb
id:archean value:rgb
id:neoarchean value:rgb
id:mesoarchean value:rgb
id:paleoarchean value:rgb
id:eoarchean value:rgb
id:hadean value:rgb
id:prenectarian value:rgb
id:nectarian value:rgb
id:imbrian value:rgb
id:earlyimbrian value:rgb
id:lateimbrian value:rgb
id:eratosthenian value:rgb
id:copernican value:rgb
id:sidericol value:rgb
id:theiicol value:rgb
id:phyllocol value:rgb
Period = from:-13700000000 till:8000000000
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1000000000 start:-13000000000
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100000000 start:-13700000000
TextData =
fontsize:M
  1. tabs:
pos:
text:"Years from now"
LineData =
layer:front
at: 7500000000 frompos:60 tillpos:71 width:0.5 color:teal # Helium flash
points: width:0.5 color:teal
points: width:0.5 color:teal
at: 0 width:10 color:tan1 layer:back # This present day
at:-4670000000 frompos:60 tillpos:74 width:0.5 color:teal # Giant planets formed
points: width:0.5 color:teal
points: width:0.5 color:teal
at:-4730000000 frompos:60 tillpos:71 width:0.5 color:teal # Ancient supernova
points: width:0.5 color:teal
points: width:0.5 color:teal
BarData =
bar:Bar1
bar:Dummy1
bar:Dummy2
bar:Dummy3
bar:GalaxyBar
bar:SunBar
bar:LifeBar
bar:SuperEonBar
bar:EonBar
bar:EraBar
bar:LunarBar
bar:MarsBar
PlotData=
width:53 textcolor:black fontsize:M
bar:Bar1 mark: color:events align:left shift:
from:-13700000000 till:-13300000000 mark: text:"10-17 million years - Habitable epoch begins" shift:
at:-13700000000 text:"Origin of our universe, Big Bang theory" shift:
from:-13600000000 till:-13300000000 mark: text:"Reionization, first stars began to shine"
at:-13600000000 text: "Oldest stars in the Universe"
at:-13100000000 text:"Formation of the first galaxies" shift:
at:-10000000000 text:"Earliest Population I stars"
at: -4730000000 text:"Ancient supernova possibly~triggers formation of the Sun" shift: mark:
at: -4670000000 text:"Giant planets formed" shift: mark:
at: -4630000000 text:"Sun ignites hydrogen fusion~4.63 billion years ago " shift:
at: -4570000000 text:"Formation of the Earth, 4.57 billion~years ago " mark: shift:
at: -4400000000 text:"Zircon, oldest mineral" shift:
at: -4030000000 text:"Oldest rock~formation on Earth"
from:-600000000 till:-500000000 mark: text:"Evolution of multicellular life"
at: -220000000 text:"Evolution of mammals"
at: 0 text:"" mark: fontsize:L
at: 1000000000 text:"Sun becomes too hot for life~on Earth's surface"
at: 1900000000 text:"Earth's oceans have evaporated"
at: 3500000000 text:"Sun has increased~its emitted power by 40%"
at: 3600000000 text:"Moon Triton crashes into~its planet Neptune" shift:
at: 5000000000 text:"Collision risk~Earth - Mars - Mercury"
at: 7500000000 text:"Sun ignites helium fusion,~starting with helium flash" mark: shift:
at: 7630000000 text:"Sun casts out its outer layers,~making a planetary nebula,~leaving the hot core in the~center, emitting 100 times~more power than Sun today"
at: end text:"Sun has cooled down to the ~same power as today. It will ~continue cooling until it ~becomes a Black dwarf." shift:
bar:GalaxyBar mark: align:center shift: color:skyblue
from:-10100000000 till:-6500000000 text:"Formation of the Milky Way galactic disk"
from: -4670000000 till:-4570000000 text:"Formation of~Terrestrial planets" shift: align:left
from: -4180000000 till:-4080000000 text:"Late Heavy~Bombardment, while~planet Neptune~migrates outwards~away from Sun" shift: align:left
from: 3000000000 till: 4000000000 text:"Milky Way and Andromeda~galaxies may collide and merge~to elliptical one" shift: align:left
bar:SunBar mark: align:center shift:
from:-4680000000 till:-4630000000 text:"Sun as Protostar" shift: color:claret mark:
from:-4630000000 till: 5400000000 text:"Sun as Main-sequence star" color:yellow shift:
from: 5400000000 till: 7500000000 text:"Sun as Red giant, emitting~2,700 times more power than now.~Earth probably swallowed by Sun." color:magenta align:left shift:
from: 7500000000 till: 7600000000 text:"Sun as~Horizontal~branch star" color:yelloworange shift:
from: 7600000000 till: 7630000000 text:"Sun as Asymptotic~giant" color:red shift:
from: 7630000000 till: 8000000000 text:"Sun as White dwarf" color:whiteDwarf shift:
bar:LifeBar align:center shift:
at:-4570000000 mark: text:"Water~delivered~to Earth" shift:
from:-4400000000 till:-2700000000 text:"Emergence of~Life on Earth" color:time1 shift:
from:-2700000000 till: 1000000000 text:"Life on Earth" color:drabgreen
from: 1000000000 till: 5400000000 text:"Measures are taken~to cope with the~heating sun.~Otherwise only:~ ~Shielded~Life on Earth?" color:time1 shift:
from: 5400000000 till: end text:"Life on Titan?" color:time2 shift:
bar:SuperEonBar color:yellow align:center shift:
from:-4570000000 till: -542000000 color:precambrian text:"Precambrian"
from: 1000000000 till: 5400000000 color:time2 shift: text:"Life on Mars?"
from: 7500000000 till: end color:time1 shift: align:left text:"Very Shielded ~Life on Mars?~if planet still exists"
  1. The click point of the links become misplaced when using align:right
bar:EonBar color:yellow align:center shift:
at: 350000000 shift: mark: fontsize:L text:"Earth's geological time scale of"
at: 150000000 mark: text:"Eons:"
from: -542000000 till: 0 color:phanerozoic text:"Phanerozoic"
from:-2500000000 till: -542000000 color:proterozoic text:"Proterozoic"
from:-4000000000 till:-2500000000 color:archean text:"Archean"
from:-4570000000 till:-4000000000 color:hadean text:"Hadean" shift:
bar:EraBar color:blue mark: align:left shift:
at:150000000 mark: text:"Eras:"
from: -65500000 till:0 color:cenozoic text:"Cenozoic"
from: -251000000 till: -65500000 color:mesozoic mark: text:"Mesozoic"
from: -542000000 till: -251000000 color:paleozoic mark: text:"Paleozoic"
from:-1000000000 till: -542000000 text:Neoproterozoic color:neoproterozoic
from:-1600000000 till: -1000000000 text:Mesoproterozoic color:mesoproterozoic
from:-2500000000 till: -1600000000 text:Paleoproterozoic color:paleoproterozoic
from:-2800000000 till: -2500000000 text:Neoarchean color:neoarchean
from:-3200000000 till: -2800000000 text:Mesoarchean color:mesoarchean
from:-3600000000 till: -3200000000 text:Paleoarchean color:paleoarchean
from:-4000000000 till: -3600000000 text:Eoarchean shift: color:eoarchean
from:-4570000000 till: -4000000000 text:Hadean color:hadean
bar:LunarBar color:yellow mark: align:left shift:
at:225000000 mark: text:"Moon's:"
from: -1100000000 till: 0 text:Copernican color:copernican
from: -3200000000 till: -1100000000 shift: text:Eratosthenian color:eratosthenian
  1. from:-3850000000 till: -3200000000 text:Imbrian color:imbrian
from: -3800000000 till: -3200000000 shift: text:"Upper Imbrian" color:lateimbrian
from: -3850000000 till: -3800000000 text:"Lower Imbrian" shift: color:earlyimbrian
from:-3920000000 till: -3850000000 shift: text:Nectarian color:nectarian
from: -4570000000 till: -3920000000 text:Pre-Nectarian color:prenectarian
bar:MarsBar color:yellow mark: align:left shift:
at: 6000000000 align:center text:"ZOOM OUT~The Stelliferous Era" mark:
at:225000000 mark: text:"Mars':"
from: -3500000000 till: 0 text:Siderikan shift: color:sidericol
from: -4000000000 till: -3500000000 text:Theiikian color:theiicol shift:
from: -4570000000 till: -4000000000 text:Phyllocian color:phyllocol shift:
at:-13700000000 align:center color:time1 mark: shift: text:"The Primordial Era~PREVIOUS"