Graphical timeline of the Stelliferous Era explained

This is the timeline of the Stelliferous era but also partly charts the Primordial era, and charts more of the Degenerate era of the heat death scenario.

Timeline

ImageSize = width:720 height:2000PlotArea = left:40 right:235 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:era2 value:lightorange id:era1 Value:yellowgreen

DateFormat = x.yPeriod = from:55.786 till:200TimeAxis = format:yyyy orientation:verticalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:60ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:56

AlignBars = justify

BarData = bar:Era bar:Dummy2 bar:Dummy3 bar:Periods bar:Dummy4 bar:Events

TextData = fontsize:M pos:(250,75) text:"Photon epoch" pos:(260,657) text:"ZOOM IN" pos:(107,1645) text:"NEXT" pos:(65,1630) text:"The Degenerate Era" pos:(65,250) text:"The Primordial Era" pos:(85,235) text:"PREVIOUS"

PlotData= textcolor:black fontsize:M

width:165 bar:Era mark:(line,white) align:center shift:(0,0) from:80 till:140 color:era2 text:"The Stelliferous Era" from:140 till:200 color:era1 from:55.786 till:80 color:era1

width:55 bar:Dummy2 bar:Dummy3

width:165 bar:Periods align:center shift:(0,0) mark:(line,white) from:55.786 till:80 color:period1 text:"Dark Ages" from:80 till:90 color:period2 text:"Reionization" from:98 till:99.6 color:period1 text:"Formation of the Milky Way~galactic disk" shift:(0,2) from:99.6 till:102.2 color:period2 text:"Life on Earth" from:190 till:200 color:period1

width:55 bar:Dummy4

width:55 mark:(line,purple) textcolor:black fontsize:M bar:Events color:events align:left shift:(30,-4)

at: 55.786 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 forms." shift:(30,-15) at: 60 text:"One million years" at: 80 text:"100 million years. First star began to shine." at: 87.78 text:"600 million years ~Formation of the first galaxy" at: 90 text:"One billion years" at: 96 text:"4 billion years ~earliest Population I stars" at:99.6 text:"9.1 billion years Formation of Earth~and Sun" at:101.4 mark:(line,magenta) text:"13.7 billion years, the present day"

  1. at:102 shift:(30,10) text:"16.7 billion years Collision of Milky Way and~Andromeda galaxies"

at:102.8 shift:(30,0) text:"19.1 billion years. Sun becomes a red giant ~and shortly thereafter a white dwarf" at:120 text:"One trillion years" at:140 text:"100 trillion years. Formation of new stars ceases.~Stars cease to fuse. " at:150 text:"One quadrillion years. ~Solar systems no longer exist. Planets flung ~out of orbit or consumed by larger bodies.~Sun has become a~black dwarf." at:180 text:"One quintillion years" at:195 text:"Galaxies no longer exist. Stars flung out of orbit ~or consumed by black holes." mark:(line,purple)The scale is

10 x log10\{t\}

where

\{t\}

is the time since the Big Bang expressed in years. For example, 10 billion years after the Big Bang (3.8 billion years ago) is

10 x log10\{10,000,000,000\}=10 x 10=100

.

See also