Timeline of the Universe

This timeline attempts to show the best scientific estimates of the timings of past events and predictions of the approximate timing of hypothetical future events with cosmological significance. Some locally significant events of interest to members of Homo sapiens are also included. See estimates of the date of Creation for alternative views based on religious tradition. (Note: in this context, billion means 1,000,000,000).

Table of contents

1 The Big Bang

2 The distant past

3 The human era

4 The far future

The Big Bang

13.7 ± 0.2 billion years ago: Universe, which includes time and space, begins with Big Bang
- Note: the Big Bang is dated according to NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data

See also timeline of the Big Bang for the first 300,000 years after the Big Bang.

The distant past

300 thousand years after the Big Bang, hydrogen nuclei capture electrons, forming the first atoms
600 million years after the Big Bang: formation of first galaxies, see Galaxy formation and evolution
5 billion years ago (~8.7 billion years after the Big Bang): formation of the Sun
4.5 billion years ago: formation of the Earth -- start of geologic timescale
3.5 billion years ago: first signs of single-celled life on Earth
600 to 500 million years ago: multicellular life evolves

The human era

2.5 to 2 million years ago: appearance of the genus Homo (see evolution of Homo sapiens)
about 150,000 years ago: appearance of Homo sapiens
for the past and present of mankind, see centuries
- 12 to 10 thousand years ago (the Holocene epoch): Homo sapiens invent agriculture; start of human civilization
- 1961: men first orbit the Earth in spacecraft
- January 15, 2001: Wikipedia project started

...

40,000 years from now, Voyager 2 will approach another planetary system.

The far future

3 billion years from now: Milky Way and Andromeda collide
5 billion years from now: the Sun becomes a red giant

See also 10¹⁷ seconds for times further than 3 billion years into the future.