Astronomy:Graphical timeline of the Big Bang

Short description: Logarithmic chronology of the event that began the Universe

This timeline of the Big Bang shows a sequence of events as currently theorized by scientists.

It is a logarithmic scale that shows [math]\displaystyle{ 10 \cdot \log_{10} }[/math] second instead of second. For example, one microsecond is [math]\displaystyle{ 10 \cdot \log_{10} 0.000 001 = 10 \cdot (-6) = -60 }[/math]. To convert −30 read on the scale to second calculate [math]\displaystyle{ 10^{-\frac{30}{10}} = 10^{-3} = 0.001 }[/math] second = one millisecond. On a logarithmic time scale a step lasts ten times longer than the previous step.

<timeline> ImageSize = width:720 height:1000 PlotArea = left:40 right:256 bottom:75 top:75

Colors =

 id:period1  value:rgb(1,1,0.7) # light yellow
 id:period2  value:rgb(0.7,0.7,1) # light blue
 id:events   value:rgb(1,0.7,1) # light purple
 id:era1     Value:yellowgreen
 id:era2     value:lightorange
 id:time1    Value:coral
 id:time2    Value:lavender

DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:-430 till:155 TimeAxis = format:yyyy orientation:vertical # order:reverse does not work ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:-430 # second ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:2 start:-430

AlignBars = justify

BarData =

 bar:Clock
 bar:Era
 bar:Dummy3
 bar:Periods
 bar:Dummy4
 bar:Events

TextData =

 fontsize:M
 pos:(240,75)
 text:Planck epoch
 pos:(250,50)
 text:Big Bang
 pos:(20,50)
 text:"0: Linear time"
 pos:(10,980)
 text:"Logarithmic time:"
 text:"10 · log10 second"
 pos:(154,946)
 text:"NEXT"
 pos:(117,931)
 text:The Stelliferous Era
 pos:(245,950)
 text:"Reionization"

LineData =

 layer:front
 at:123  frompos:358 tillpos:369   width:0.5  # Matter domination
 points:(369,878)(402,800)  width:0.5
 points:(402,800)(413,800)  width:0.5

PlotData=

 textcolor:black  fontsize:M

 width:53
 bar:Clock  color:events  align:right  shift:(28,3)  mark:(line,teal)
 at:-120 text:"One picosecond"
 at:-90  text:"One nanosecond"
 at:-60  text:"One microsecond"
 at:-30  text:"One millisecond"
 at:0    text:"One second"
 at:36   text:"One hour"
 at:75   text:"One year"
 at:105  text:"One thousand years"  shift:(43,3)
 at:135  text:"One million years"

 width:53
 bar:Era  mark:(line,white)  align:center  shift:(0,0)
 from:-430  till:135  color:era1  text:"The Primordial Era"

 width:53
 bar:Dummy3

 width:158
 bar:Periods  align:center  shift:(0,0)  mark:(line,white)
 from:-430 till:-360 color:period1  text:Grand unification epoch
 from:-360 till:-120 color:period2  text:Electroweak epoch
 from:-120 till:-60  color:period1  text:Quark epoch
 from:-60  till:0 shift:(-40,0) align:left  color:period2  text:Hadron epoch
 from: 0   till:23   color:period1  text:Lepton epoch
 from: 23   till:131  color:period2  text:Photon epoch
 from:131  till:155  color:period1  text:"Dark Ages"

 width:53
 bar:Dummy4

 width:53
 mark:(line,purple)  textcolor:black  fontsize:M
 bar:Events  color:events  align:left  shift:(30,-4)

 at:-430 shift:(30,-12) text:"Planck time, the smallest theoretically observable ~unit of time and the time before which science is ~unable to describe the universe. At this point, the ~force of gravity separated from the electronuclear ~force."
 at:-360           text:"Separation of the strong force from the ~electroweak force."
 from:-360 till:-320 align:left shift:(-55,0) color:time1  text:"Inflationary epoch. Universe expands exponentially,  Higgs Field"
 at:-320  shift:(30,4) text:"Reheating after inflation populates universe ~with quarks and anti-quarks."
 at:-120           text:"The weak force separates from the ~electromagnetic force resulting in the four ~separate forces we know today."
 at:-60            text:"Quarks become confined within hadrons."
 at:-30            mark:(line,white) text:"Formation of hydrogen nuclei."
 at:0              text:"Neutrinos cease to interact with other particles."
 at:23 shift:(30,-11)   text:"Lepton/anti-lepton pairs annihilate."
 from:23  till:31  align:center shift:(0,-4) color:time2  text:"Big Bang nucleosynthesis"
 at:31 shift:(30,2)  text:"3 to 20 minutes: Formation of helium nuclei"
 from:129 till:131  shift:(-114,-2) color:time1 mark:(line,white) text:"Recombination"

1. at:123 shift:(30,-32) text:"70,000 years: Matter domination"

 at:123  mark:(line,white)  shift:(30,-83)  text:"70,000 years: Matter domination"
 at:131  text:"379,000 years: Hydrogen and helium nuclei ~capture electrons to form stable atoms. Photons ~are no longer able to interact strongly with atoms. ~Cosmic microwave background radiation streams ~freely."
 at:140  text:"10-17 million years: Habitable epoch begins"
 at:155  text:"100 million years: First star begins to shine."

</timeline>

See also

• Graphical timeline from Big Bang to Heat Death
• Graphical timeline of the Stelliferous Era
• Graphical timeline of the universe
• Cosmic Calendar (age of the universe scaled to a single year)
• Detailed logarithmic timeline

References

• "Timeline of the Big Bang - The Big Bang and the Big Crunch - The Physics of the Universe". https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_bigbang_timeline.html.