Here and there, inflation ends and gives rise to a slower expansion, and perhaps the formation of matter, light, galaxies, stars, and beings like us.

BBC: The observable Universe and beyond

The pattern in this light acts as a kind of proxy for the history of star formation, and therefore a history of structure in the cosmos.

BBC: Science & Environment

The CMB is the light that was finally allowed to spread out across space once the Universe had cooled sufficiently to permit the formation of hydrogen atoms - about 380, 000 years into the life of the cosmos.

BBC: Planck satellite: Maps detail Universe's ancient light

Roger Linfield and his colleagues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who are in charge of the mission, aim to show that spacecraft flying in formation can be controlled so precisely that the distance between them varies by only a tiny fraction of a wavelength of light.

ECONOMIST: Birds of a feather