How the universe got its structure

The universe is full of billions of galaxies. Why do we see so much structure in the universe today? A 10-year survey of tens of thousands of galaxies has provided a new approach to answering this fundamental mystery.

The most distant supermassive black hole ever observed

This black hole resides in a luminous quasar and its light reaches us from when the Universe was only 5 percent of its current age — just 690 million years after the Big Bang.

Creation of a planet witnessed for the first time

Astronomers observe up to three newborn planets evolving from a disk of gas and dust particles circling a distant Sun-like star.