Cosmic Calendar

E59307

The Cosmic Calendar is a visualization that compresses the entire history of the universe into a single year to help illustrate the vastness of cosmic time and humanity’s relatively recent appearance.

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Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf chronological visualization
conceptual timeline
didactic model
popular science concept
compressesTimeSpan 13.8 billion years into one year
December31LastSecondsRepresent recent human history
December31Represents present moment
describedIn Cosmos: A Personal Voyage
emphasizes relative brevity of human existence
scale difference between cosmic and human timescales
endsOn December 31
firstPopularizedIn 1980
goal illustrate vastness of cosmic time
show humanity’s recent appearance
hasCreator Carl Sagan
includesEventType age of dinosaurs
development of civilization
emergence of Homo sapiens
evolution of complex life
formation of galaxies
formation of the Milky Way
formation of the Solar System
origin of life on Earth
rise of mammals
influenced later cosmic timeline visualizations
language primarily English in original presentation
mapsTo Gregorian calendar year
medium books
classroom posters
online interactive visualizations
television series
midnightJanuary1Represents moment of the Big Bang
NewYearsDayRepresents Big Bang
portraysHumanHistoryAs occupying last seconds of December 31
relatedConcept deep time
geologic time scale
logarithmic timelines
represents history of the universe
startsOn January 1
timeScale 1 cosmic year equals age of the universe
typicalMapping 1 day represents about 37.8 million years
1 hour represents about 1.58 million years
1 minute represents about 26,000 years
1 month represents about 1.15 billion years
1 second represents about 438 years
usedIn astronomy education
cosmology education
science communication

Referenced by (1)

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