Cosmic Calendar

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Cosmic Calendar

• Adapted from Carl Sagans Dragons of Eden

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CHANGE generates additional CHANGE.
Write this on the cover of your booklet

• Big Idea

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Carl Sagan

• Carl Sagan was an astronomer and Pulitzer
  prize-winning author.
• Sagan compared the entire history of the universe
  (some 12-15 billion years) to a single 12-month
  year.
• This comparison helps us understand the vast
  periods of time involved. 

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All of Time in One Year

• In this comparison, the origin of the universe,
  the Big Bang, occurs when the new year begins on
  January 1st.
• Today corresponds to midnight of December 31st.

Big Bang
Today
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January 1, 1200 a.m.Big Bang!Origin of the
Universe
The big bang theory states that the universe
started from a single point and has been
expanding ever since.

• The Beginning
• 13 billion years ago

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February 9 First Galaxies Form
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Stars Led to the Formation of All the Other
Elements
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May 1 Origin of the Milky Way Galaxy
Earth is in the Milky Way Galaxy.
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September 9 Origin of the Solar System

• 4.6 billion years ago

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September 14Origin of Earth
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September 25 (Approximately) First Life on Earth
Single-celled organisms are early forms of life.
This amoeba, a single-celled organism with no
internal organs, engulfs a paramecium.

• 3.5 4 billion
• years ago

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October 9Oldest Fossil

• The earliest fossils are simple, microscopic,
  single-celled bacteria called blue-green algae.

More than 3.5 billion years ago
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November First multicellular Organisms
600 million years ago
Sponges are considered to be one of the most
primitive of the multicellular animals.
.
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December 1Significant Oxygen Atmosphere
The oxygen atmosphere that we depend on was
generated by numerous cyanobacteria. Before that
time, the atmosphere was unsuitable for life.
Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are among the
most ancient organisms on Earth. They are
photosynthetic organisms.
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December 16First Worms
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December 19 First Fish

• 400 500 million years ago
• The first vertebrates evolved from sedentary
  vase-shaped marine animals called sea squirts or
  Tunicate.
• Fossilized imprints of the lobe-finned
  coelacanth date back to 350 million years ago

Sea Squirts or Tunicate
Coelacanth (se-la-kan th)
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December 20Plants Colonize Land
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December 21 First Insects

• 375 million years ago

Insects in Amber
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December 22First AmphibiansFirst Winged Insects
Amphibian Seymouria
Winged Insect in Amber
.
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December 23First TreesFirst Reptiles
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December 24First Dinosaurs
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December 26First Mammals
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December 27First Birds
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December 28Dinosaurs Become Extinct First
Flowers
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First Humans

• December 31 around 1030

Humans are toolmakers.
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December 31, 115920 p.m. First Agriculture in
Mesopotamia (Now called Iraq)

• 10,000 years B.C.
• Human settlements soon followed the use of
  tools.

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December 31, 115951 p.m. First Recorded
History in Egypt

• 3,000 years B.C.

The ancient Egyptians used their written language
for religious texts.
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December 31, 115959. p.m. Space Age Begins

• October 4, 1957
• Launch of Sputnik from the U.S.S.R.

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Humans have occupied only a very small portion of
cosmic history!
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CHANGES

• What changes to you foresee in the next million
  years?
• What evidence do you have to support your ideas?

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References

• Images are from a variety of Internet sites
  and Microsoft Encarta.
• Cosmic calendar based on Carl Sagans Dragons
  of Eden.

pware_at_manhattan.k12.ca.us