This image from the new study reveals a single ancient filament of the cosmic web, with diffuse gas (yellow to purple) connecting two galaxies (yellow stars) over an enormous distance of roughly 3 ...

“Our findings take us closer to solving a long-standing mystery in astronomy that will redefine our understanding of how galaxies were created in the early universe.” Working with the Purple ...

The gas flowing within the cosmic web, feeding galaxy formation at filament intersections, is shown in purple. Credit ... serves as a scaffold upon which galaxies and other astronomical objects form.