Ancient light from the very early universe takes billions of years to get to our part of the galaxy. By the time scientists on Earth get to observe this ancient light it has traversed a twisted pattern distorted by the pull of matter in its way. This is known as B-modes and its secret has been unraveled using the National Science Foundation’s South Pole Telescope, and the Herschel space observatory.

Scientists believe there are two kind of B-modes. The first kind were generated a few billion years into our universe’s existence while the second type were produced when the universe was formed, fractions of a second after its birth in the Big Bang. It is the second kind that may hold clues to how the universe began and that is a mystery all scientists everywhere are interesting in solving.

The data from the Planck mission is being combed to find more instances of this primordial B-modes of light. Researchers were looking for the kind of polarized light formed by a process called gravitational lensing. This is where the gravitational pull from matter disturbs the path of light. Further scientific study is needed to sort and make sense of all the data that this ancient light may hold.