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Formation of the Solar System: Birth of the Sun and Planets

The Sun ignited at the centre of a spinning disc of gas and dust, and within tens of millions of years the planets, moons, asteroids and comets had formed.

c. 4.568 bn years ago · 7 min read

Prehistory

Formation of the Earth: How Our Planet Was Born

A layered rocky planet with an iron core, a silicate mantle and an early crust emerged, opening the Hadean Eon.

c. 4.54 bn years ago · 8 min read

Prehistory

Formation of the Moon: The Giant Impact With Theia

Debris from a collision between the proto-Earth and a planet-sized body gathered in orbit to form the Moon, which has accompanied Earth ever since.

c. 4.5 bn years ago · 8 min read

Prehistory

Origin of Earth's Oceans: Where the Water Came From

Liquid water collected on Earth's cooling surface, forming the first oceans, which have persisted in some form ever since.

c. 4.4-4.0 bn years ago · 5 min read

Prehistory

Late Heavy Bombardment: Asteroid Storm on the Early Earth

Large impacts formed many of the Moon's great basins; whether they came in a sudden late spike or as the tail of a steady decline is still debated.

c. 4.1-3.8 bn years ago · 6 min read

Prehistory

Archean Eon: Earth's Early Continents and the First Life

Earth gained stable continental crust, oceans and widespread microbial life, setting the stage for the oxygenation of the atmosphere.

4.0-2.5 billion years ago · 6 min read

Prehistory

Origin of Life on Earth: How and When Life First Began

Simple single-celled microbes appeared, the ancestors of all living things; how non-living chemistry became life is still unresolved.

c. 4.0-3.5 bn years ago · 8 min read

Prehistory

Kenorland: One of Earth's Earliest Supercontinents

A proposed Neoarchean supercontinent whose existence is still debated; its suggested breakup after about 2.5 billion years ago is marked by large swarms of volcanic dykes.

2.7-2.5 billion years ago · 4 min read