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13.8 Ga (billion years) ago THE BIG BANG WHAT IS LIGHT POLLUTION? Beginning of space and time 13.5 Ga ago FIRST BLACK HOLES FORM AUSTRALIAN 13.3 Ga (billion years) ago MASS FORMATION 13.2 Ga ago Light pollution is excessive, misdirected or obtrusive FIRST FORM AGE OF artificial (usually outdoor) light. This inappropriate DINOSAURS 11 Ga ago 11 Ga ago MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY or excessive use of artificial light can have serious STAR FORMATION RATE PEAKS UNIVERSE STARTS TO COOL Temperatures average around 13,000 K environmental consequences for humans, safety, 10.4 Ga ago UNIVERSE BECOMES HABITABLE wildlife and our climate. First life-friendly star systems emerge

TYPES OF LIGHT POLLUTION 8.8 Ga ago 'S THIN DISK LIGHT TRESPASS STARTS TO FORM 7.5 Ga ago Light falling where it is not intended or needed. MOST POWERFUL GAMMA-RAY SKYGLOW BURST EVER OBSERVED BY HUMANS Brightening of the night sky over inhabited areas. 5.5 Ga ago GLARE MILKY WAY BECOMES A SPIRAL Excessive brightness that causes visual discomfort. LIGHT CLUTTER 4.2 Ga ago 4.4 Ga ago LIFE EMERGES ON EARTH Bright, confusing and excessive groupings of light sources . OCEANS FORM ON EARTH Asteroids bring water to Earth While artificial lights disrupt the natural day-night 3.1 Ga ago 3 Ga ago FIRST LAND BACTERIA pattern there are practical solutions everyone can CYANOBACTERIA DEVELOP TRUE PHOTOSYNTHESIS implement, to combat light pollution. Life begins to produce oxygen

2.5 Ga ago 2.5 Ga ago YOU CAN MAKE A GREAT OXYGENATION EVENT MOVEMENT OF THE TECTONIC PLATES Bacterially produced oxygen starts to COMMENCES 4 WAYS DIFFERENCE accumulate in the atmosphere 1. INSTALL lighting only when and where it is needed. 1.6 Ga ago 2. USE MITOCHONDRIA ASSIMILATE INTO energy-saving features such as dimmers and EUKARYOTIC CELLS 1.4 Ga ago motion sensors on outdoor lights. POPULATION OF STROMATOLITES RAPIDLY RISE 850 Mya (million years ago) 3. SHIELD your lighting so light shines down, not up. POPULATION OF STROMATOLITES STARTS TO DECLINE 4. EDUCATE your friends and colleagues about the 540-529 Mya ago CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION 445 Mya ago importance of good lighting for our health, economy Exponential diversification of life ORDOVICIAN EXTINCTION EVENT and environment. 231 Mya ago FIRST DINOSAURS 225 Mya ago FIRST MAMMALS

80 Mya ago SPLITS FROM ANTARCTICA Looking to the 66 Mya ago CRETACEOUS EXTINCTION EVENT 75% of all species go extinct

2.5 Mya ago 2.2 Mya agoaustralianageofdinosaurs.com CURRENT ICE AGE BEGINS FIRST MEMBERS OF GENUS HOMO APPEAR THE MOON is the Earth's only ENJOY THE DARKNESS permanent natural satellite, and formed around 4.51 billions It can take your eyes a while to adjust fully to years ago – not long the darkness. It is best to get comfy and turn after the Earth. off mobile phones, car lights and flashlights. If you have to use a light use a red light as this will Pisces not impact vision as much as white. The galaxy that contains our own , the MILKY Austrinus WAY, is especially easy to see in Australia. The galaxy appears from Earth as a band of light formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. Macroscopium Eridanus FINDING SOUTH Sagittarius THE SOUTHERN CROSS or comprises circumpolar stars that are visible from most locations in the Southern Hemisphere year- round. To find south draw a line perpendicular to the halfway point between the two pointer stars. Canis Where that line meets the line formed by the Major two most widely separated stars in the Southern Cross is the south point in the sky. From the pole Aus. drop a line straight down to the horizon. CircinusLupus Crux Pointers Southern Cross (Crux) Coalsack

Hydra Next to the Southern Cross, THE EMU is one of the few night-sky features made up of South darker patches of sky rather than the stars landmark themselves. These patches are created by the dust of the Coalsack Nebula and other dark dusty trails obscuring the light of stars australianageofdinosaurs.com that exist behind them.