
Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky Preview
Preview: Season 50 Episode 11 | 30sVideo has Closed Captions
See how Earth transformed from a barren hellscape to a planet capable of sustaining life.
Early Earth was a hellscape of molten lava and barren rock, bombarded by meteors, with no atmosphere at all. How did our familiar blue sky – the thin, life-giving band of gasses protecting our planet – come to be?
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
National Corporate funding for NOVA is provided by Carlisle Companies and Viking Cruises. Major funding for NOVA is provided by the NOVA Science Trust, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers.

Ancient Earth: Birth of the Sky Preview
Preview: Season 50 Episode 11 | 30sVideo has Closed Captions
Early Earth was a hellscape of molten lava and barren rock, bombarded by meteors, with no atmosphere at all. How did our familiar blue sky – the thin, life-giving band of gasses protecting our planet – come to be?
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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NOVA Labs is a free digital platform that engages teens and lifelong learners in games and interactives that foster authentic scientific exploration. Participants take part in real-world investigations by visualizing, analyzing, and playing with the same data that scientists use.Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- [Announcer] On "NOVA: Ancient Earth."
- We have never found another planet that has an atmosphere like ours.
(thunder booming) - We don't know how life started.
- How did our planet transform from this barren rock into somewhere capable of supporting life?
- [Speaker] Water allows clouds to form and rain to fall.
It changes the surface of a planet.
- [Announcer] "Birth of the Sky" on "NOVA".
♪ Wish I could go ♪ ♪ Back in time ♪
Ancient Earth May Have Had Red Oceans
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S50 Ep11 | 3m 34s | On Ancient Earth, rust deep in the oceans played a critical role in the formation of Earth (3m 34s)
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S50 Ep11 | 3m 9s | For millions of years, Earth was a fiery hellscape, inhospitable to life. (3m 9s)
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
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National Corporate funding for NOVA is provided by Carlisle Companies and Viking Cruises. Major funding for NOVA is provided by the NOVA Science Trust, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers.




