Time after Big Bang: 10-12 seconds Universe Colour: Blue

Universe Colour: Blue

*Two thirds of the distance to the Sun.

Temperature: 10 thousand trillion degrees Radius of today's observable Universe: 100 million kilometres* Density: 1030 grams per cubic centimetre Events: Quark Epoch begins. Weak force and Electromagnetic force form and particles acquire mass.

Time after Big Bang: 0.000001 seconds Universe Colour: Blue

Temperature: 10 billion degrees Radius of today's observable Universe: 100 billion kilometres Density: 1018 grams per cubic centimetre Events: Hadron Epoch begins. Hadrons (protons and neutrons) form from hot quark-gluon plasma.

Time after Big Bang: 1 second Universe Colour: Blue

Temperature: 10 billion degrees Radius of today's observable Universe: 10 lightyears Density: 1 tonne per cubic centimetre Events: Lepton Epoch begins. Hadrons and antihadrons annihilate and neutrinos are released.

Temperature: 10 billion trillion degrees Radius of today's observable Universe: 10 metres Density: 1070 grams per cubic centimetre Events: Inflation ends. Expansion continues.

Time after Big Bang: 10-32 seconds Universe Colour: Blue

Universe Colour: Blue

Temperature: 4 billion degrees Radius of today's observable Universe: 30 lightyears Density: 1 kilogram per cubic centimetre Events: Photon Epoch begins. Leptons and antileptons annihilate, forming light.

Time after Big Bang: 10 seconds Universe Colour: Blue

Time after Big Bang: 3 minutes Universe Colour: Blue

Temperature: 1 billion degrees Radius of today's observable Universe: 150 lightyears Density: 10 grams per cubic centimetre Events: Photon Epoch continues. Protons form helium and tiny amounts of heavier elements, known as nucleosynthesis.

Universe Colour: None

Time after Big Bang: 10-36 seconds Universe Colour: None

Temperature: A thousand trillion trillion degrees Radius of today's observable Universe: Less than a billionth of an atomic nucleus Events: Inflation begins. Strong force forms.

*The same density as water on Earth.

Temperature: A few hundred million degrees Radius of today's observable Universe: 300 lightyears Density: 1 gram per cubic centimetre* Events: Photon Epoch continues. Nucleosynthesis ends, the Big Bang is over.

Time after Big Bang: 15 minutes Universe Colour: Blue

Time after Big Bang: 52,000 years Universe Colour: Pale blue

Universe Colour: Pale blue

Temperature: 9,200 degrees Kelvin Radius of today's observable Universe: 14 million lightyears Density: 2×10-19 per cubic centimetres Events: Matter Epoch begins. Matter begins to dominate over radiation.

Temperature: 5,778 degrees Kelvin Radius of today's observable Universe: 14 million lightyears Density: 5×10-20 per cubic centimetres Events: Matter Epoch. Universe is the same temperature and colour as our Sun.

Universe Colour: White

Time after Big Bang: 118,850 years Universe Colour: White

Time after Big Bang: 379,000 years Universe Colour: Orange

Temperature: 2,950 degrees Kelvin Radius of today's observable Universe: 43 million lightyears Density: 4×10-21 per cubic centimetres Events: Recombination Epoch ends. Universe becomes transparent.

Universe Colour: Orange

Universe Colour: Deep orange

Time after Big Bang: 1 million years Universe Colour: Deep orange

Temperature: 1,600 degrees Kelvin Radius of today's observable Universe: 80 million lightyears Density: 10-21 per cubic centimetres Events: Visibility Epoch begins. Universe is now dim enough that a person could look at it without being blinded.

Universe Colour: Beige

Time after Big Bang: 10.2 billion years Universe Colour: Beige

Temperature: 3.5 degrees Kelvin Radius of today's observable Universe: 35 billion lightyears Density: 10-29 per cubic centimetres Events: Dark Energy Epoch begins. Dark energy begins to dominate over matter.

Temperature: 2.725 degrees Kelvin Radius of today's observable Universe: 46.3 billion lightyears Density: 8.6×10-30 per cubic centimetres Events: Today. The universe is now a mellow "cosmic latte" colour.

Universe Colour: Cosmic Latte

Time after Big Bang: 13.8 billion years Universe Colour: Cosmic Latte

Temperature: 33 degrees Kelvin Radius of today's observable Universe: 3.8 billion lightyears Density: 5×10-27 per cubic centimetres Events: Epoch of Reionization. Astronomers today can see the most distant known galaxy (GN-z11) as it existed during this epoch.

Universe Colour: Red

Time after Big Bang: 410 million years Universe Colour: Red

Universe Colour: Bright Red

Time after Big Bang: 180 million years Universe Colour: Bright red

Temperature: 50 degrees Kelvin Radius of today's observable Universe: 2 billion lightyears Density: 2×10-26 per cubic centimetres Events: Epoch of Reionization begins. The first stars form and begin to reionize neutral atoms.

Time after Big Bang: 100 million years Universe Colour: Bright red

Temperature: 100 degrees Kelvin Radius of today's observable Universe: 1.5 billion lightyears Density: 10-25 per cubic centimetres Events: Dark Ages. Structures begin to form from gravitational collapse.

Temperature: 20 degrees Kelvin Radius of today's observable Universe: 400 million lightyears Density: 3×10-24 per cubic centimetres Events: Dark Ages. The Universe is now a comfortable room temperature.

Time after Big Bang: 15 million years Universe Colour: Bright red

Time after Big Bang: 5.5 million years Universe Colour: Bright red

Temperature: 560 degrees Kelvin Radius of today's observable Universe: 225 million lightyears Density: 2×10-23 per cubic centimetres Events: Dark Ages begin. The Universe becomes too faint to be viewed by humans.

Read more at ScienceNordic

Code for colour calculations availabe at: timeline.py

Text: Peter Laursen, Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Norway, and the Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark.

Graphic design and animation: Catherine Jex, ScienceNordic/ForskerZonen

Images: Vecteezy.com.

Engage

What colour is the Universe? Click ‘Engage' then use the coloured navigation bar or swipe left-right to travel from the Big Bang to today.

Temperature: More than a hundred million trillion trillion degrees Radius of today's observable Universe: Less than a billionth of an atomic nucleus Events: Planck Epoch. Gravity forms.

Time after Big Bang: Less than 10-43 seconds Universe Colour: None

Temperature: 4,500 degrees Kelvin Radius of today's observable Universe: 30 million lightyears Density: 10-20 per cubic centimetres Events: Recombination Epoch begins. Charged (ionized) atoms combine to form neutral atoms.

Universe Colour: Pale orange

Time after Big Bang: 200,000 years Universe Colour: Pale orange