Love thy neighbour. It’s good advice if you want to get along with people.
But going into a new neighbourhood can be rather daunting. Buying off the plan can be risky for things can change quickly. Will the proper amenities be in place? Are the neighbours congenial? Would a population explosion ruin your dreams?
How would it be if some entity designed your neighbourhood to suite your life style for a particular time in the future. And started to do this billions of years before your particular species of animal came into being. That would take a lot of thought and will power to even comprehend it.
But it did happen. You want proof! Just look at the heavens on a clear night sky. Have you looked at the lights above? They are our neighbours. There are millions of millions of them and they form our galactic neighbourhood.
Our neighbourhood took billions of years for its boundaries to be established. There was (and still is) a lot of construction going on, dust and debris everywhere.
So! Here is a timeline story of how our cosmos neighbourhood came about…
By The Plan
It started with the stars, theoretically with Population III type stars and knowingly with Population II type stars. It is thought that all the Population III type stars and some of the Population II type stars ended their life in supernova. The ejecta of the supernova and other primordial gas, dust and debris within a particular area of our universe formed into nebula.
The various nebula formations throughout the universe enlarged over time. Their mass and gravity increased. Eventually these clumps of dust and gases got so big that it collapses from their own gravity. The collapse caused the material at the centre of the nebular cloud to heat up. This hot core could be the beginning of either Population Type I stars, (modern stars), or form into protoplanets, planets and planetoids, all depending upon situation.
About 100 million years after the Big Bang, 13.699 billion years ago (Bya), the Gravitational collapse of ordinary matter particles started to fall into structures created by dark matter. Quasars begin to take shape as the gaseous accretion forms discs around black holes. As the gas falls toward a black hole, energy is released in the form of electromagnetic radiation. Population III (Pop III) stars were starting to form. They were very hot and had a short lifetime. Their ultraviolet light started to ionize the remaining neutral hydrogen gas in the early universe.
About 200 million years after the Big Bang, (13.599 Bya), HD 140283 formed. It is know as the “Methuselah” Star. Methuselah is a metal poor sub-giant, Population II Type Star, about 200 light years away from the Earth in the constellation Libra, (specifically towards the Ophiuchus constellation). This Population II star is the unconfirmed oldest star observed in the Universe.
The oldest known star is SMSS J031300.36-670839.3 and it formed approximately 13.6 Bya . It is a star in the constellation Hydrus and is 6,000 light years from Earth.
HE 1327-2326 is an early Population II undeveloped star. It is iron poor and formed in the constellation Hydra. It was made from material that was chemically enriched by a first-generation Population III supernova.
Around 300 million years after the Big Bang (13.499 Bya) the first large-scale astronomical objects, such as protogalaxies and quasars are thought to have begun forming. During this time period Population III (Pop III) stars continued to burn and stellar nucleosynthesis operated. At first they were fusing hydrogen to produce more helium, then over time these Pop III stars were forced to fuse helium to produce carbon, oxygen, silicon and other heavy elements up to iron on the periodic table.
These new elements seeded into neighbouring gas clouds, (nebula), by the supernova of Pop III stars. This in turn led to the formation of more Population II stars (metal poor) and gas giants in the early universe through gravitational collapse.
It is also thought that Population II stars through their own nuclear fusion and supernovas created all the other elements in the periodic table, except for the more unstable ones. An interesting characteristic of Population II (Pop II) stars is that despite their lower overall metallicity, they often have a higher ratio of alpha elements (O, Si, Ne, etc) relative to Fe as compared to Population I stars.
Under Construction
About 299 million years after the Big Bang (about 13.5 Bya) ancient galaxy clusters started to come together as the building blocks of our Milky Way galaxy.
Roughly 400 million years after the Big Bang (13.399 Bya), the universe began to come out of its Dark Age due to the process of reionization slowing and the clearing of foggy hydrogen gas. The Population III stars generation had ended in supernovas as they had finished burning their hydrogen fuel. The Population II stars were now dominating the early universe.
The early universe started to become transparent to ultraviolet light for the first time. Due to mass star formation the early universe starts to heat once again.
Around 400 to 700 million years after the Big Bang (13. 399 to 13.099 Bya) Galaxy Clusters and Superclusters started to emerge. Our galactic neighbourhood starts to take shape.
380 million years after the Big Bang (13.419 Bya) the oldest known quasar (UDFj-39546284) formed in the constellation Fornax.
400 million years after the Big Bang (13.399 Bya) GN-z11, the oldest-known galaxy, formed. GN-z11 is a high redshift (z = 11.09+0.08; −0.12) galaxy found in the constellation Ursa Major.
420 million years after the Big Bang (13.379 Bya) the quasar MACS0647-JD formed in the constellation Camelopardalis. It is the furthest known quasar and it has a high redshift (z = 10.7 – 11).
529 million years after the Big Bang (13.27 Bya) Messier 77 (M77 or NGC 1068), formed. It is a barred spiral type galaxy about 47 million light years away in the constellation Cetus.
570 million years after the Big Bang (13.229 Bya) EGSY8p7 a high redshift (z = 8.68) galaxy formed in the constellation Boötes.
About 630 million years after the Big Bang (13.169 Bya) GRB 090423 occurred. It was the oldest ever observed gamma ray burst.
669 million years after the Big Bang (13.13 Bya) EGS-zs8-1 a high redshift (z = 7.7) Lyman-break type galaxy formed in the northern constellation of Boötes.
699 million years after the Big Bang (13.1 Bya) z8_GND_5296 a dwarf high redshift (z = 7.5078) Lyman-alpha type galaxy formed in the constellation Ursa Major.
750 million years after the Big Bang (13.049 Bya) GN-108036 a redshift (z = 7.2) galaxy formed in the constellation Ursa Major.
889 million years after the Big Bang (12.91 Bya) SXDF-NB1006-2 a redshift (z = 7.213) galaxy formed in the Cetus constellation.
900 million years after the Big Bang (12.899 Bya) SDSS J0100+2802, a hyperluminous quasar, formed near the border of the constellations Pisces and Andromeda. It has a redshift of z = 6.30, which corresponds to a distance of 12.8 billion light years from Earth. It harbours a massive black hole with mass of 12 billion solar masses.
919 million years after the Big Bang (12.88 Bya) IOK-1 a redshift (z = 6.96) galaxy formed in the constellation Coma Berenices.
949 million years after the Big Bang (12.85 Bya) – the oldest known Quasar CFHQS J2329-0301 came into existence.
999 million years after the Big Bang (12.8 Bya) Galaxy HCM-6A, the most distant normal galaxy observed started to form. HCM-6A is located behind the Abell 370 galactic cluster, near M77 in the constellation Cetus.
The early universe gradually transitioned into our known observable universe as seen today. The Dark Age came to an end at about 1 billion years after the Big Bang (12.799 Bya) as the Reionization Era ended due to the early universe becoming ionized. The cosmos is going to plan. The road map is now observable.
The Developing Neighbourhood
Our universe is still small in size and galaxy interactions become common. Larger and larger galaxies start to form out of the galaxy merger process. The first galaxy clusters and galaxy superclusters start to appear. Our modern looking galaxies start to form and develop.
1.099 billion years after the Big Bang (12.7 Bya) the oldest known exoplanet PSR B1620-26 b formed in the constellation of Scorpius, in the centre of the Milky Way. The planet is in a circumbinary orbit around the two stars of PSR B1620-26 [which are a pulsar (PSR B1620-26 A) and a white dwarf (WD B1620 26)]. PSR B1620-26 b is 12,400 light years away from Earth.
12.6 Bya – the ancient galaxy clusters started to evolve into our modern Milky Way galaxy.
11 to 12.76 Bya – Kapteyn’s Star formed. It is a class M1 dim red subdwarf or main sequence halo star, which is thought to be originally a member of the Milky Way galaxy’s luminous halo. It is 12.76 light years from Earth in the southern constellation Pictor. Although Kapteyn’s Star is the closest halo star to our Solar System it is moving away from it. It has two known planets in orbit, Kapteyn b and Kapteyn c.
11.7 Bya – The Milky Way’s inner halo formed. It is the region surrounding the galaxy’s familiar spiral-armed disc.
11.53 Bya – Omega Centauri formed. It is a globular cluster in the constellation of Centaurus at a distance of 15,800 light years form Earth. Omega Centauri is the largest globular cluster in the Milky Way with a diameter of roughly 150 light years.
11.23 Bya – Kepler-444 formed. It is an orange main sequence star, approximately 116 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Lyra of the Milky Way. The Kepler-444 system consists of a pair of M-dwarf stars and five rocky exoplanets, Kepler-444b, Kepler-444c, Kepler-444d, Kepler-444e and Kepler-444f.
11 Bya – Kapteyn b formed and is a possible exoplanet that orbits within the habitable zone of the red subdwarf Kapteyn’s star.
11 Bya – The Star formation rate peaks and the Universe starts to cool.
Note: A new study suggests that half of all stars that have ever existed were born in a boom between 11 billion and 9 billion years ago. Star formation since then has been on the decline, even up to now.
11 to 7 Bya – The Gliese 581 system formed in the Libra constellation of the Milky Way. It is a gravitationally bound system comprising the star Gliese 581, (a red dwarf), and the objects that orbit it. The system is known to consist of at least four planets, Gliese 581b, Gliese 581c and Gliese 581e along with a debris disc. It has two unconfirmed planets Gliese 581g and Gliese 581d. The Gliese 581 star is 20.5 light years from Earth.
10.74 Bya – Lacaille 9352 (Lac 9352) formed. It is a main sequence, red dwarf star in the southern constellation of Piscis Austrinus.
10.7 Bya – the oldest known spiral galaxy BX442 formed in the constellation Pegasus. BX442 is a grand design spiral galaxy of type Sc. It has a companion dwarf galaxy. It is the most distant known grand design spiral galaxy in the universe, with a redshift of z = 2.1765 ± 0.0001.
10 Bya – A galactic merger occurred between an unknown galaxy and the Milky Way. The Milky Ways halo was bulked up on a diet of baby star clusters. These stars were mainly Population II (POP II) stars.
10 Bya – Population I (POP I) stars started to form. They are the first metal abundant stars. POP I stars are also the beginning of life friendly stars.
10 Bya – The Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31), in the constellation of Andromeda, was formed by a colossal crash between two protogalaxies.
About 10 Bya – Barnard’s star forms. Barnard’s Star is a very low mass red subdwarf star, about 6 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Ophiuchus in the Milky Way galaxy. It is the fourth-nearest known individual star to the Sun and the closest star in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere.
Between 1 and 10 Bya – WISE 0855−0714 formed. It is a sub-brown dwarf star, 7.27 ±0.13 light years from Earth and is located in the constellation Hydra.
9.98 Bya – the oldest galactic cluster JKCS 041 forms. It is a cluster galaxy of 19 members in the constellation Cetus. JKCS 041 is estimated to be 9.9 billion light years away from Earth, (the farthest observed), with a z = 1.9 redshift.
9.6 Bya – In the Milky Way the star formation rate stabilizes.
9.24 Bya – Gliese 832 formed. It is a red dwarf of spectral type M2V star in the southern constellation Grus. Gliese 832 has two exoplanets in orbit.
9 Bya – Dark energy was starting to make its presence felt.
8.8 Bya – Milky Way’s thin disc starts to form. The Milky Way may have collided with a smaller satellite galaxy, causing the stars in the thin disk to be shaken up and creating the thick disc, while the gas would have settled into the galactic plane and reformed the thin disc.
8.5 Bya – Lalande 21185 formed. It is a star in the constellation of Ursa Major in the Milky Way galaxy. It is brightest red dwarf observable in the northern hemisphere. It has at least one planet in orbit, Lalande 21185 b.
Between 7.1 and 8.5 Bya – Arcturus forms. Arcturus is a red giant star in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth’s sky that is the brightest star in the constellation Boötes (the Herdsman). Arcturus may be a Population II star and a member of the Milky Way galaxy’s thick disc.
8.4 Bya – Lacaille 9352 formed. It is a red dwarf star in the southern constellation of Piscis Austrinus within the Milky Way galaxy.
8 Bya – Kapteyn c formed. It is an exoplanet orbiting the nearby Red dwarf star Kapteyn’s Star.
8 Bya – The Milky Way star formation rate begins to decline.
8 Bya – NML Cygni (V1489) forms. It is a red hypergiant or red supergiant in the constellation Cygnus. It is one of the largest stars currently known and is also one of the most luminous and massive cool hypergiants in the Milky Way.
7.8 Bya – Mizar forms. Mizar and Alcor are two stars forming a naked eye double in the handle of the Big Dipper (or Plough) asterism in the constellation of Ursa Major. Mizar is the second star from the end of the Big Dipper’s handle, and Alcor its fainter companion.
About 7.5 Bya – Dark energy begins dominating Universe. After being slowed for billion of years by gravity abundant dark matter takes hold and the cosmic expansion begins to speed up. Objects in the universe began flying apart at a faster rate.
7.5 Bya – GRB 080319B occurred and was the most powerful gamma ray burst ever observed by humans.
7.1 Bya – The Universe cools below 5 K, (K = Kelvin degrees).
6.4 Bya – Alnitak forms. Alnitak (Zeta Orionis) is a blue supergiant star in the Orion constellation. It is part of a three star system along with Alnilam and Mintaka. Alnitak is the brightest O-type star in the entire night sky and forms part of the Hunter’s Belt.
6.1 Bya – 61 Cygni forms. It is a binary star system in the constellation Cygnus of the Milky Way. 61 Cygni consists of a pair of K-type dwarf stars that orbit each other in a period of about 659 years.
6 Bya – Epsilon Indi star system formed. It is approximately 12 light years from Earth in the constellation of Indus. It consisting of a K-type main-sequence ε Indi A and two brown dwarfs, ε Indi Ba and ε Indi Bb, in a wide orbit around it. ε Indi A has one known planet in orbit.
5.8 Bya – Tau Ceti forms. It is a single star in the constellation Cetus that is spectrally similar to the Sun, although it has only about 78% of the Sun’s mass. Tau Ceti is the closest solitary G-class star to Earth.
5.6 Bya – EZ Aquarii (Luyten 789-6 and Gliese 866) formed. It is a triple star system approximately 11.3 light years from the Sun in the constellation Aquarius of the Milky Way. Its three components are all M-type red dwarfs stars.
The neighbourhood is beginning to take shape.
Location… Location… Location…
5.5 Bya – Milky Way becomes a spiral galaxy.
The Milky Way Galaxy, (which is home to us), started to form not long after the Big Bang, perhaps 13.5 billion years ago. It is now a typical barred spiral galaxy with a diameter between 150,000 and 200,000 light years. It is estimated to contain 100 to 400 billion stars and more than 100 billion planets. The Milky Way has several satellite galaxies and is part of the Local Group of galaxies, which forms part of the Virgo Supercluster, which is itself, a component of the Laniakea Supercluster.
5.3 Bya – Alpha Centauri forms. Alpha Centauri is the star system closest to the Solar System, being 4.37 light years from the Sun. It consists of three stars. Alpha Centauri A (Rigil Kentaurus) and Alpha Centauri B (Toliman) form the binary star Alpha Centauri AB and a small and faint red dwarf, Alpha Centauri C (Proxima Centauri) completes the star system.
5.2 Bya – Gilese 570 (33 G. Librae) forms. Gilese 570 is a ternary star system, which is approximately 19 light years away. The primary star is an orange dwarf star. The other secondary stars are themselves a binary system, consisting of two red dwarfs that orbit the primary star. A brown dwarf has been confirmed to be orbiting in the system.
5 Bya – YZ Ceti formed. It is a red dwarf star in the constellation Cetus and is just 12 light years away. YZ Ceti has three exoplanets in orbit.
4.799 Bya – Our solar system was born. A massive nebula in the middle rim of the Milky Way Galaxy begins to collapse and form dozens of proto-stars. A ball of gas which was to become our proto-sun continues to collapse under it’s own gravity. It grew ever hotter, all the while slowly drifting away from its sister suns and the great nebula of its birth.
4.77 Bya – Abell 370 started to form. It is a galaxy cluster located approximately 4 billion light years away from the Earth, in the constellation Cetus. Its core is made up of several hundred galaxies.
4.7 Bya – SN 2005ap supernova occurred. It was the second brightest supernova ever observed. SN 2005ap was an extremely energetic type Ic supernova in the galaxy SDSS J130115.12+274327.5.
4.603 Bya – The Sun formed. The Sun started to form from the collapse of part of a giant molecular cloud that consisted mostly of hydrogen and helium, which probably gave birth to many other stars. A vast disc of debris, dust and gas begins to form around the Sun and begins to coalesce into balls of rock and dust. Violent collisions occurred. Protoplanets, asteroids and comets start to form in the Sun’s protoplanetary disc.
The Sun is a G-type main-sequence (Population I) star. It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. The Sun is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. In about 5 billion years time the Sun will exit the main sequence and become a red giant star. And several billion years later it will become a white dwarf star.
The Sun lies close to the inner rim of the Milky Way’s Orion Arm, in the Local Interstellar Cloud or the Gould Belt at a distance of 25,000 to 28,000 light years from the Galactic Centre. The Sun is contained within the Local Bubble, (a space of rarefied hot gas), which was possibly produced by the supernova remnant Geminga or multiple supernovae in subgroup B1 of the Pleiades moving group.
The distance between the local arm of our galaxy, (Milky Way) and the next arm out, the Perseus Arm, is about 6,500 light years. The Sun and the Solar System, is found in what scientists call the galactic habitable zone. It takes the Solar System about 225 to 250 million years, (a galactic year), to complete one orbit through the Milky Way.
The Sun has eight known planets. This includes four terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars), two gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn), and two ice giants (Uranus and Neptune). The Solar System also has at least five dwarf planets, an asteroid belt, numerous comets, and a large number of icy bodies, which lie beyond the orbit of Neptune.
Finding The Right Abode
4.6 Bya – Mars formed. It is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System after Mercury. Mars has 2 known moons and its orbital period is 686.971 (Earth) days. Mars lost its magnetosphere 4 billion years ago.
4.6 Bya – Venus formed. Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. It has the longest rotation period, (243 days), of any planet in the Solar System and rotates in the opposite direction to most other planets, (meaning the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east). Venus does not have any natural satellites.
4.57 Bya – Proxima Centauri forms. Proxima Centauri, or Alpha Centauri C, is a red dwarf, a small low-mass star, about 4.244 light years from the Sun in the constellation of Centaurus.
4.56 Bya – Proto-planets such as Gaia (Geb or Keb) and Theia formed in the Sun’s protoplanetary disc.
4.543 Bya – The planet Theia impacts Gaia (Geb or Keb). Theia hits Gaia with a glancing blow. Gaia was shattered and the combined debris reforms Gaia into Earth. Also the coalesced debris, (mainly from Theia), forms into the Moon. Theia was a Mars sized planetoid with a mass 10% of that of Earth’s.
4.54 Bya – Earth formed. Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbour life. Its gravity interacts with other objects in space, especially the Sun and the Moon.
4.53 Bya – The Moon, Earth’s only natural satellite formed. It is the fifth largest natural satellite in the Solar System.
4.503 Bya – Mercury formed. Mercury is the smallest and first planet from the Sun. Its orbital period around the Sun of 87.97 days is the shortest of all the planets in the Solar System. Mercury was heavily bombarded by comets and asteroids during and shortly after its formation.
4.503 Bya – Jupiter formed. It is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System and has 27 known moons. It is a giant planet with a mass one thousandth that of the Sun, but two-and-a-half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined. Jupiter has an orbital period of 12 years.
4.503 Bya – Saturn formed. It is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius about nine times that of Earth. Saturn has only one-eighth the average density of Earth, but with its larger volume Saturn is over 95 times more massive. It has an orbital period of 29 years.
4.503 Bya – Uranus formed. It is the seventh planet from the Sun and has 27 known moons. It has the third largest planetary radius and fourth largest planetary mass in the Solar System. Uranus is similar in composition to Neptune, and both have bulk chemical compositions. It has an orbital period of 84 years.
4.503 Bya – Neptune formed. It is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun and has 13 known moons. In the Solar System, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter, the third most massive planet, and the densest giant planet. Neptune has an orbital period of 164.8 years.
4.25 Bya – Mintaka (Delta Orionis or 34 Orionis) forms. It is a multiple star system some 1,200 light years from the Sun in the constellation of Orion. Together with Alnitak and Alnilam, the three stars form Orion’s Belt.
3 to 4 Bya – Wolf 1061 (HIP 80824 or V2306 Ophiuchi) formed. It is an M class red dwarf star located about 13.8 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus. Wolf 1061 has 3 exoplanets in orbit.
3.819 Bya – ASASSN-15lh (supernova designation SN 2015L) occurred. It was an extremely bright astronomical transient. It was the brightest supernova ever observed.
3.13 Bya – Van Maanen 2 formed. It is now a white dwarf star that is a dense, compact stellar remnant that is no longer generating energy.
3.02 Bya – Groombridge 34 formed. It is a binary star system in the northern constellation of Andromeda. Groombridge 34 comprises of two main sequence red dwarf stars GX Andromedae and GQ Andromedae and two planets Ab and Ac.
Between 100 Mya and 3 Bya – Luhman 16 (WISE 1049−5319 or WISE J104915.57−531906.1) formed. It is a binary brown-dwarf system in the southern constellation Vela at a distance of approximately 6.5 light years from the Sun. Its components are called Luhman 16A and Luhman 16B.
1 Bya – Ross 248 (HH Andromedae or Gliese 905) formed. It is a main sequence, red dwarf star located approximately 10.3 light years from Earth in the northern constellation of Andromeda.
1 Bya – Beta Ceti (Diphda or Deneb Kaitos) formed. It is the brightest star in the constellation of Cetus. Although designated ‘beta’, it is actually brighter than the ‘alpha’ star in the constellation. It is 96.3 light years from the Sun.
Unknown Bya – Luyten 726-8 (Gliese 65 or UV Ceti) formed. It is a binary red dwarf star system in the constellation Cetus that is one of Earth’s nearest neighbours at about 8.7 light years away. They orbit one another every 26.5 years.
400 to 800 Mya – Epsilon Eridani (Ran) formed. It is a star in the southern constellation of Eridanus 10.5 light years away. Epsilon Eridani has a giant exoplanet (AEgir) and two belts of rocky asteroids in orbit.
100 to 350 Mya – Wolf 359 formed. It is a red dwarf star located in the constellation Leo, near the ecliptic, at a distance of approximately 7.9 light years from Earth.
4 Mya – Lacaille 8760 formed. It is a red dwarf star in the constellation Microscopium and is 12.9 light years away.
3.47 Mya – Kruger 60 (HD 239960, HIP 110893, BD+56 2783 or Gliese 860A) formed. It is a binary star system within the Milky Way and is located 13.15 light years from the Sun. These red dwarf stars orbit each other every 44.6 years.
1 Mya – Gliese 1 formed. It is a red dwarf in the constellation Sculptor in the southern celestial hemisphere and is 14.2 light years away.
What A Buy!
It is exhilarating when you find what you want, especially when its real estate. It’s even better when you feel that it is a God given gift.
It just took 9.259 billion years for our Earth abode to come about and there it was 4.54 billion years ago. It was worth the wait for a place of such huge potential. A true renovators delight! Slightly battered and tilted, but it came with a moon. What more could you ask for!
But one has to put their mark on their home, usually a few changes are made.
However, if you have a renovators delight type abode, some serious work may be involved. And planet Earth will have to be knocked into shape.
Are you happy with your neighbourhood? Your abode?