Universe Colour: None
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
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.
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
Universe Colour: Pale orange
Time after Big Bang: 200,000 years Universe Colour: Pale orange
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.
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.
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Time after Big Bang: Less than 10-43 seconds Universe Colour: None
Time after Big Bang: 10-36 seconds Universe Colour: None
Time after Big Bang: 10-32 seconds Universe Colour: Blue
Time after Big Bang: 10-12 seconds Universe Colour: Blue
Time after Big Bang: 0.000001 seconds Universe Colour: Blue
Time after Big Bang: 1 second Universe Colour: Blue
Time after Big Bang: 10 seconds Universe Color: Blue
Time after Big Bang: 3 minutes Universe Colour: Blue
Time after Big Bang: 15 minutes Universe Colour: Blue
Time after Big Bang: 52,000 years Universe Colour: Pale Blue
Time after Big Bang: 52,000 years Universe Colour: Pale Blue
Time after Big Bang: 118,850 years Universe Colour: White
Time after Big Bang: 200,000 years Universe Colour: Pale orange
Time after Big Bang: 200,000 years Universe Colour: Pale Orange
Time after Big Bang: 379,000 years Universe Colour: Orange
Time after Big Bang: 1 million years Universe Colour: Deep orange
Time after Big Bang: 1 million years Universe Colour: Deep orange
Time after Big Bang: 5.5 million years Universe Colour: Bright red
Time after Big Bang: 15 million years Universe Colour: Bright red
Time after Big Bang: 100 million years Universe Colour: Bright red
Time after Big Bang: 180 million years Universe Colour: Bright red
Time after Big Bang: 410 million years Universe Colour: Red
Time after Big Bang: 10.2 billion years Universe Colour: Beige
Time after Big Bang: 13.8 billion years Universe Colour: Cosmic latte
Time after Big Bang: 13.8 billion years Universe Colour: Cosmic latte