Cosmologists have released the most detailed "baby picture" yet of the early universe, a portrait that helps answer some of the deepest scientific questions while providing enough surprises to keep researchers busy for years.

The images captured by a space telescope show the universe is 13.8 billion years old — 100 million years older than previously estimated.

The results also reinforce a key theory that scientists have about how the universe was formed, expanding from subatomic size in what one scientist described as "one nano-nano-nano-nano-second after the big bang." And they also revise estimates of how much matter and mysterious dark energy make up the universe.