The universe is ancient - 50,000 times older than our species. On a cosmic time scale, human history is as brief as the blink of an eye. By compressing all 13.8 billion years of time into a 10 minute scale, this video shows just how young we truly are, and just how ancient and vast our universe is. Starting with the big bang and culminating in the appearance of homo sapiens, this experience follows the unfolding of time at 22 million years per second, adhering closely to current scientific understanding.
Narration by Morgan Freeman, Brian Cox, Carl Sagan, David Attenborough. Concept, music, editing, sound design and select VFX by melodysheep. In addition to custom visual effects, this video samples a large library of content from many sources, including NASA, Voyage of Time, Cosmic Voyage, Wonders of the Universe, and more.
"We are the product of a grand evolutionary sequence - cosmic evolution - of which we are only occasionally aware."
Carl Sagan
It can be difficult to fathom how long 13.8 billion years is. The more you watch this video, the more it sinks in just how stunningly old the universe is, and how magnificently tiny we humans are in the grand scheme. I hope seeing this experiment in humility makes you ponder the vast, unwitnessed ages that have passed before we came along, and the brevity of our existence in comparison. Every event featured in this video is fascinating on its own, so I highly encourage anybody interested to dig deeper. Start with the Wikipedia page on geologic time and go from there to learn more about all the events featured within.
If you dig the music featured in this video, download the soundtrack here:
Full list of visual source material:
- IMAX Cosmic Voyage (1996)
- Voyage of Time
- Tree of Life
- Volvic - The Giant
- Wonders of the Solar System
- Wonders of the Universe
- Wonders of Life
- James Webb space telescope galaxy animation sequence
- Journey to the Edge of the Universe
- BBC Horizon Swallowed by a Black Hole
- BBC Do We Really Need the Moon
- Earth: Making of a Planet
- Apple Music: Visions of Harmony
- David Attenborough’s First Life
- Origins: The Journey of Humankind
- Natural Attraction
- BBC Life