From "Now"

(Jan 1, 2000 CE) Date Notes

-13.798 billion years Birth of the universe in the Big Bang

-13.6 billion years First stars begin to shine

-13.1 billion years Galaxies form

-12.7 billion years Age of quasar CFHQS 1641+3755

-9.0 billion years Earliest Population I stars

-4.57 billion years A supernova seeds our galactic neighborhood with

heavy elements that will be incorporated into Terra

-4.567 billion years Birth of Sol

-4.566 billion years Sol in T Tauri stage, emits protoplanetary disc

-4.550 billion years Proto-Terra forms

-4.533 billion years Collision between proto-Terra and Theia forms Terra-Luna system

-4.250 billion years Earliest evidence of life on Terra

-4.1 billion years Late Heavy Bombardment (Lunar Cataclysm)

-3.6 billion years Simple cells (prokaryotes)

-3.4 billion years Cyanobacteria performing photosynthesis

-2.4 billion years Oxygen Catastrophe extinction event

-2.0 billion years Complex cells (eukaryotes)

-1.2 billion years Eukaryotes which sexually reproduce

-1.0 billion years Multicellular life

-600 million years Simple animals, ozone layer

-550 million years Bilaterians

-500 million years Fish and proto-amphibians

-475 million years Land plants

-443.4 million years Ordovician–Silurian mass extinction events

(two extinctions separated by 1 million years) Terra's second largest extinction.

Possible gamma-ray burst

-400 million years Insects and seeds

-374 million years Late Devonian extinction event (Kellwasser Event)

-358.9 million years Late Devonian extinction event (Hangenberg Event)

-360 million years Amphibians

-300 million years Reptiles

-225 million years Earliest dinosaurs

-222 million years Recovery from Permian-Triassic extinction event

-200 million years Mammals

Triassic-Jurassic extinction event

-195 million years First sauropod dinosaurs

-176 million years Stegosauria dinosaurs

-163 million years Pterodactyls

-150 million years Birds

-130 million years Flowers

-92 million years Cenomanian-Turonian extinction event

-68 million years Tyrannosaurus rex, triceratops

-60 million years Primates

-20 million years the family Hominidae (great apes)

-7.6 million years Older supernovae that created the Local Bubble

-3.4 million years Earliest known stone tool

-3 million years Black monoliths create first proto-humans

-2.3 million years Homo Habilis

-1.8 million years Homo Erectus

-1.2 million years Oldest known tool

-800,000 years Controlled use of fire

-490,000 years Oldest known symbolic marking

-300,000 years End of Lower Paleolithic

Start of Middle Paleolithic

Star Geminga goes supernova, possibly creating the Local Bubble

-250,000 years Neanderthal Man

-200,000 years Anatomically Modern Humans

-110,000 years Start of Last Glacial Period (the "Ice Age")

-75,000 years Toba supereruption almost makes human species extinct

-70,000 years Scholz's star passes within 0.82 light-years (52,000 AU) of Sol

-50,000 years End of Middle Paleolithic

Start of Upper Paleolithic

-30,000 years Extinction of Neanderthals

-25,600 years 23,600 BCE Polaris is the Pole Star

-16,000 years 14,000 BCE Domestication of dogs

-15,000 years 13,000 BCE Start of Holocene extinction event

Earliest evidence of warfare

-12,000 years 10,000 BCE End of Last Glacial Period (the "Ice Age")

-11,700 years 9700 BCE Bering land bridge from Siberia to North America disappears

-11,500 years 9500 BCE Start of Quaternary extinction event

-11,000 years 9000 BCE Approximately the sinking of Atlantis, according to Plato

-10,800 years 8800 BCE Closest approach of Kapteyn's Star to solar system

-10,000 years 8000 BCE End of Upper Paleolithic

Start of Mesolithic

domestication of animals

Start of Neolithic Revolution (agriculture)

End of Quaternary extinction event

Invention of scratch plough allows inventors to be supported

-9,500 years 7500 BCE Domestication of cats

-8,440 years 6440 BCE Kurile volcano on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula has VEI 7 eruption

-8,194 years 6194 BCE Supernova SN 1006 explodes

Will not be seen on Terra until 1006 CE

-7,500 years 5500 BCE Formation of Sahara desert pushes people into Nile delta

-7,446 years 5446 BCE Supernova SN 1054 (Crab Nebula) explodes

Will not be seen on Terra until 1054 CE

-7,000 years 5000 BCE Invention of the wheel

Invention of metallurgy

-6,000 years 4000 BCE End of Mesolithic

Start of Neolithic

Start of Uruk period in Mesopotamia

-5,900 years 3900 BCE Intense aridification (5.9 kiloyear event) triggers

worldwide migration to river valleys

Rise of patriarchy

Rise of institutionalized warfare

Rise of anthropomorphic gods

Myth of the "fall of man"

-5,100 years 3100 BCE First dynasty of Egypt

-5,000 years 3000 BCE Sumerian cuneiform writing system

Construction of Stonehenge begins

Thuban is the Pole Star

-4,800 years 2800 BCE Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period in China

Impact event creates Burkle Crater causing flood myths

-4,700 years 2700 BCE Old Kingdom begins in Egypt

-4,600 years 2600 BCE Mature Harappan phase of Indus Valley civilization

Maya culture of Yucatán Peninsula

-4,560 years 2560 BCE King Khufu completes Great Pyramid of Giza

-4,500 years 2500 BCE Mammoth goes extinct

-4,200 years 2200 BCE Completion of Stonehenge

-4,070 years 2070 BCE Yu the Great established the Xia Dynasty in China

-4,000 years 2000 BCE Domestication of the horse

Construction of the Ziggurat of Ur

-3,800 years 1800 BCE Invention of alphabetic writing

Epic of Gilgamesh

-3,600 years 1600 BCE Approximately the Minoan eruption

(destruction of Thera, possibly Atlantis)

Destrution of Minoan civilzation on Crete.

Mycenaean Greece

Shang Dynasty in China

Hittites

-3,400 years 1400 BCE Olmec civilzation in Mexico

-3,300 years 1300 BCE End of Neolithic

Start of Bronze Age

-3,200 years 1200 BCE End of Bronze Age

Start of Iron Age

-3,190 years 1190 BCE Trojan War

Historical period of Homer's The Odyssey

-3,180 years 1180 BCE end of Hittite Empire

-3,046 years 1046 BCE Zhou Dynaty in China

-3,000 years 1000 BCE β Ursae Minoris is the Pole Star

-2,850 years 850 BCE Approximately the historical period of Homer's Iliad

-2,800 years 800 BCE Rise of Greek city-states

-2,753 years 753 BCE Founding of Rome

-2,500 years 500 BCE End of Iron Age

Invention of "zero" and binary numbering system by Pingala

-2,480 years 480 BCE Battle of Thermopylae (The 300)

-2,044 years 44 BCE End of Roman Republic

Start of Roman Empire

-1,921 years 79 CE Destruction of Pompeii by volcanic eruption

-1,715 years 285 CE Roman Empire splits into Eastern and Western Empires

-1,600 years 400 CE α Ursae Minoris is the Pole Star

-1,524 years 476 CE Fall of Roman Empire

Start of the Middle Ages

Start of the "Dark Ages" (term not used anymore)

-1,300 years 700 CE Horse stirrup spreads to Europe and helps start the feudal system

-1,226 years 774 CE Gamma-ray burst causes high levels of Carbon 14

in Japanese tree rings

-1,020 years 920 CE Horse collar harness spreads from China to Europe

helps end the feudal system

-1,050 years 950 CE Start of Medieval Warm Period

-1,000 years 1000 CE End of the "Dark Ages" (term not used anymore)

-994 years 1006 CE Supernova SN 1006 observed on Terra

Actually exploded in 6194 BCE

-946 years 1054 CE Supernova SN 1054 (Crab Nebula) observed on Terra

Actually exploded in 5446 BCE

-750 years 1250 CE End of Medieval Warm Period

-700 years 1300 CE Start of the Renaissance

-685 years 1315 CE Start of Great Famine of 1315-17

-654 years 1346 CE Start of the Black Death (second bubonic plague pandemic)

-647 years 1353 CE End of the Black Death (second bubonic plague pandemic)

-650 years 1350 CE Start of the Little Ice Age

-550 years 1450 CE Johannes Gutenberg invents movable type mechanical printing

-547 years 1453 CE Eruption of Kuwae in Pacific contributes to fall of Constantinople

-500 years 1500 CE End of the Middle Ages

-350 years 1650 CE Start of Age of Enlightenment

-300 years 1700 CE End of the Renaissance

-240 years 1760 CE Start of Industrial Revolution

-224 years 1776 CE End of Age of Enlightenment

-170 years 1830 CE End of Industrial Revolution

-150 years 1850 CE End of the Little Ice Age

-92 years 1908 CE Tunguska Explosion decimates a remote part of Siberia

-90 years 1910 CE Hot buzz-word is "Electric"

-86 years 1914 CE Start of World War I

-85 years 1915 CE The Sin of the Scientist

-82 years 1918 CE End of World War I

-80 years 1920 CE Hot buzz-word is "Radio"

-63 years 1937 CE Start of World War II

-55 years 1945 CE Start of World War II

Nuclear weapons used on Japan

Start of Atomic Age

Hot buzz-word is "Atomic"

-50 years 1950 CE Hot buzz-word is "Transistorized"

-43 years 1957 CE Launch of Sputnik

Start of the Space Age

-42 years 1958 CE Start of the Nuclear Age

-40 years 1960 CE Hot buzz-word is "Laser"

-39 years 1961 CE Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space

-31 years 1969 CE Neil Armstrong becomes first man on Luna

-30 years 1970 CE Hot buzz word is "Computerized"

-10 years 1990 CE Hot buzz word is "Nanotechnology"

-5 years 1995 CE Start of the Information Age

0 Jan 1,

2000 CE Now

+170 years 2170 CE Polaris is the Pole Star

+10,000 years Pioneer 10 passes within 3.8 light years of Barnard's Star

+25,000 years The Arecibo message reaches globular cluster Messier 13

+25,800 years Polaris is the Pole Star

+32,000 years Pioneer 10 passes within 3 light years of Ross 248

+36,000 years Red dwarf star Ross 248 passes within 3.024 light years of Earth,

becoming the closest star to the Sun.

+40,000 years Voyager 1 passes within 1.6 light years of AC+79 3888

+100,000 years Proper motion of stars in Terra's sky will render many

constellations unrecognisable

+296,000 years Voyager 2 passes within 4.3 light years of Sirius

+350,000 years HIP 85605 closest approach to solar system.

+950,000 years Meteor Crater in Arizona, considered the "freshest" of its kind,

will be eroded away by this time.

+1 million years Great Pyramid of Giza eroded away

On Luna Neil Armstrong's footpring eroded away.

+1.4 million years Gliese 710 closest approach to solar system.

+1.93 million years Comet barrage caused by Scholz's Star enters the inner Solar System

+2 million years Pioneer 10 passes near Aldebaran

+2.35 million years Comet barrage caused by HIP 85605 enters the inner Solar System

+3.4 million years Comet barrage caused by Gliese 710 enters the inner Solar System

+5 million years Lower estimate for mankind to colonize every star

in the Milky Way galaxy

+7.2 million years Mount Rushmore eroded away

+10 million years Planet WASP-12b fully devoured by its mother star

+50 million years Upper estimate for mankind to colonize every star

in the Milky Way galaxy

The Californian coast begins to be subducted into the Aleutian Trench

Africa's collision with Eurasia closes the Mediterranean Basin

+100 million years Upper estimate for lifespan of the rings of Saturn in their current state

+250 million years All the continents on Earth may fuse into a supercontinent

Amasia, Novopangaea, or Pangaea Ultima

+255 million years From its present position, the Solar System completes one full orbit

of the Galactic center

+400 million years Supercontinent of Terra splits and drifts apart

+600 million years Tidal acceleration moves the Moon far enough from Earth that

total solar eclipses are no longer possible.

+2.8 billion years Terra's surface temperature, even at the poles,

reaches an average of 147 °C

+3.5 billion years Surface conditions on Terra are comparable to those on Venus today

+4 billion years Andromeda—Milky Way galactic collision starts

+5 billion years Sol's hydrogen core exhausted

Sol leaves main sequence and evolves into a red giant

+7.5 billion years Terra and Mars become tidally locked to expanding Sol

+7.9 billion years Sol reaches tip of red-giant branch of Hertsprung-Russel diagram

is at maximum radius of 256 times present day value

Mercury, Venus, and probably Terra have been consumed