The Hadean Eon and the origin of life
The Hadean Eon lasted about 500 million years between the formation of the Earth and the time it became cool enough for life to originate. Life appears to have sprung in the last 100 million years of this Eon. The name “Hadean” comes from Hades, the ancient Greek god of the underworld, in reference to the hellish conditions on Earth at the time.
Source: Halla, J. et al. Ratification of the base of the ICS Geological Time Scale: the Global Standard Stratigraphic Age (GSSA) for the Hadean lower boundary. Episodes Journal of International Geoscience 47, 381–389 (2024).
Image from The National Radio Astronomy Observatory from the National Science Foundation.
Artist: S. Dagnello
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Full disclosure, I may occasionally borrow a sentence from Will Durant's Story of Civilization. I absolutely love that collection!