Geologic and Biological Timeline of the Earth. Astronomical and geological evidence indicates that the Universe is approximately 13,700 million years old, and our solar system is about 4,567 million years old.
Earth's Moon formed 4,450 million years ago, just 50 million years after the Earth's formation. Because the composition of the rocks retrieved from the Moon by the Apollo missions is very similar to rocks from the Earth, it is thought that the Moon formed as a result of a collision between the young Earth and a Mars-sized body, sometimes called Theia, which accreted at a Lagrangian point 60° ahead or behind the Earth. A cataclysmic meteorite bombardment (the Late Heavy Bombardment) of the Moon and the Earth 3,900 million years ago is thought to have been caused by impacts of planetesimals which were originally beyond the Earth, but whose orbits were destabilized by the migration of Jupiter and Saturn during the formation of the solar system.
Simplified model of the formation of the Moon. African Capitals - Tutorial Level. European Capitals Web Games. Europe Map Quiz. Adventures in Wonderland. Wandering the world. Travel Deeper with Gareth Leonard. Freedonia Post. Fevered MutteringsHome. Traveling Cheap, Taking Pics, and Telling Lies. TheDromomaniac.com. ChronoZoom. MIT Visualizing Cultures.