# ago (temporal)

it is before now

- Computed level: L3 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: temporal  ·  Arena: ago

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [past](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-past.temporal), [time](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-time.dimension)

**Through:** past and now together are a time before now

**Novel properties:**
- relative past distance
- reference to present

## Examples
- The Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977, passed beyond the heliosphere into interstellar space in 2012. *(spaceflight)*
- The Magna Carta was sealed by King John at Runnymede in 1215, establishing legal rights later cited in constitutional law. *(history)*
- The last eruption of Mount Vesuvius before 79 CE occurred around 12,000 years ago during the late Pleistocene. *(geology)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-ago.temporal*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-ago.temporal.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*