At the outset, nothing existed. Then, approximately 13.7 billion years ago, the cosmos began to take shape. How this came to be, or if there was ever a time before time, remains a mystery. Physicists have, however, constructed an approximate timeline of significant cosmic events using telescope data and particle physics models.
The Big Bang marks the inception of time, a moment when the universe was incredibly hot and dense. Contrary to its name, the Big Bang was not an explosion but rather a phase of rapid expansion. Following this, the cosmic inflation era saw the universe exponentially expanding, possibly tearing apart previously colliding parts of space.
In the early cosmos, temperatures soared to trillions of degrees Fahrenheit, allowing quarks and gluons to freely move about and combine. This era witnessed the creation of the quark-gluon plasma. As the universe expanded and cooled, protons, neutrons, and eventually atoms formed.
During the Dark Ages, there was a period when the cosmos emitted no light, making it challenging for astronomers to study. The emergence of the first stars and galaxies marked the end of this era.
Over billions of years, the universe evolved, giving rise to structures like supermassive black holes and galaxy clusters. Our own solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago.
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