bya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see BYA.
In astronomy, geology, and paleontology, bya or "b.y.a." is an acronym for billion years ago. This abbreviation is commonly[citation needed] used as a unit of time to denote length of time before the present. Specifically, one bya is equal to 109 years ago.
The "billion" in bya is, by convention, the short-scale billion (109) of American preference, not the long-scale billion (1012) of British usage. For this reason, there is some potential for confusion; and some scientists prefer the unit Gya, while others prefer Ga (Giga annum). However, bya remains in more widespread use.
Like the related unit mya ("million years ago"), bya is traditionally written in lowercase. Ga or Gya has a capitalized first letter instead.
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[edit] Events around 1 to 13 bya
[edit] Astronomic light years
- The Big Bang was 13.7 bya
- The Milky Way formed 13.6 bya
- The Hubble Ultra Deep Field image light started >13 bya
- The Hubble Deep Field images light started ~12 bya
- The solar system sun was born 4.59 bya
[edit] Geologic Precambrian eons and Paleontology
- Hadean 4.567 to 3.80 bya
- The Earth formed 4.56717 bya (Giant impact hypothesis)
- Oldest known mineral formed 4.404 bya
- Oldest known life form appeared around 4.0 bya
- Archean 3.8 to 2.25 bya
- Cyanobacteria possibly started photosynthesis ~3.8 bya
- Prokaryotes (Bacteria) definitely formed 3.5 bya
- Proterozoic 2.25 to 0.5 bya
- Eucaryotes formed 2.1 to 1.6 bya
- First multicellular life started 1.2 bya
- Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth was 0.6 bya
