A project involving more than 70 scientists has uncovered clues that will allow them to better map out the expansion of the universe and further understand dark matter and energy.

The project centers around POLARBEAR, which is a telescope in Chile’s Atacma Desert that captures the oldest light in the universe, according to a statement from the University of California – San Diego. It measures remnant radiation from the Big Bang, which has stretched to microwave lengths after billions of years of expansion, and during recent observation spotted anomalies known as “B-modes.”

Known as the cosmic microwave background (CMB), it illuminates the large-scale structure of the universe like a backlight, providing an imprint of the history of the universe. Using instruments called bolometers arrayed in the POLARBEAR telescope, it can determine the direction of the light from a number of different points.

Through these patterns, the team found B-modes, which are twists that suggest that different structures have been interfering to warp this universe backlight, which may be indicative that dark matter is having an effect as well as particles called neutrinos that are difficult to study.

The team published a report on their discoveries Oct. 20 in the Astrophysical Journal, stating that in its first season of observation it had mapped B-modes in three patches of the sky.

While dust in our own galaxy can create the sort of radiation signature that CMB does, the team said it was confident that the B-modes discovered were cosmological, and not galactic, due to how clean the detection was.