Biologist Patrick Shih says that our planet started with “an unbreathable atmosphere devoid of oxygen . . . overall looking more like a science fiction landscape.”

How did our atmosphere change over time?

Genesis 1:3-5 indicates that when light first began to penetrate the atmosphere, its source could not have been discernable from the earth’s surface. Only later would the sun and the moon have been distinctly visible from the earth.​—Genesis 1:14-18.

The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center says that our atmosphere first allowed only diffused light to reach the earth. It says: “Methane droplets in the air shrouded the young Earth in a global haze.” Later, “the methane haze cleared and the sky turned blue.”