TIME

Birth of Earth

≈ 4.54 billion years ago

Illustration of the young Earth as a dark, cracked planet with glowing orange lava between its plates, lit at the edge by a small, distant Sun.

Earth & LifeBirth of Earth

A planet takes shape.

Earth formed from material orbiting the young Sun. Collisions and gravity gradually assembled a hot, largely molten planet.

Earth’s oldest rocks have been recycled, so its age comes from meteorites. Lead isotope work in the 1950s gave about 4.55 billion years. The USGS gives 4.54 billion.

4.54 billion years ago, placed on the scale of its era on a line leading toward now.

Era
Earth & Life
Period
≈ 4.54 billion years ago
Edition
1/1
Status
Not Released
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Background artwork

An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of the molten young Earth. No picture of this period exists, and the details are an interpretation.