last updated 17 Oct 2021
- Universe is 13.8 Billion years +/- 2% old
- The first elements Hydrogen, Helium and Lithium are formed from 240,000 - 300,000 years after the big bang.
- The cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation is created about 380,000 years after the big bang.
- Early active galaxies, and population III stars started to form 300 - 500 million years after the big bang.
Population III stars were the first suns to form in our 13.8-billion-year-old universe, and they're identifiable by their unique composition: just hydrogen, helium and lithium, the only elements around immediately after the Big Bang. Heavier elements were forged in the cores of these stars and their successors.
- Heavier elements were created sometime after 500 million years by massive stars and supernovas.
Erra
The Five Ages of the Universe, 1999, Fred Adams and Professor Gregory P. Laughlin.
- Primordial Era: 0-100,000 years
Toward the end of this age, the recombination of electrons with nuclei made the universe transparent for the first time.
- Stelliferous Era: 1 million - 100 Billion, includes the current era
Matter is arranged in the form of stars, galaxies, and galaxy clusters, and most energy is produced in stars.
- Degenerate Era: 1 Quadrillion - 1039 Years
Era of brown dwarfs, white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes. White dwarfs will assimilate As this era continues, the authors hypothesize that protons will begin to decay. If proton decay takes place, the sole survivors will be black holes.
- Black Hole Era: 1040 - 10100 years
- Dark Era: 10101 years - Essentially, the universe will eventually turn into a void of nothingness.
Books:
The Inflationary Universe", 1997, Alan Guth
Links:
Nova: The universe Revealed"
TimeLines at: HistoryOfTheUniverse.com/tl1.html
Timeline of creation