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Quello che abbiamo visto nell'universo era strano.

Quello che abbiamo visto nell'universo era strano.
What we saw in the universe was strange.
From Lesson 158:Compound relative pronouns (quello che, ciò che)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Quello che abbiamo visto nell'universo era strano.

Why does this sentence use quello che instead of cosa for "what"?
Cosa (or che cosa) is used for asking questions, like "What did you see?". But when "what" means "the thing that" or "that which" in a statement, you need a compound relative pronoun like quello che (or ciò che). Here, it translates perfectly to "That which we saw...".
Why is the adjective strano in the masculine singular form?
Adjectives must agree with the noun they describe. Here, strano describes quello che (what / the thing that). In Italian, an abstract concept or "the thing that" doesn't have a specific physical gender, so it is always treated as masculine singular by default.
Why is abbiamo visto in the passato prossimo tense, but era is in the imperfetto?
Abbiamo visto (we saw) is a specific, completed action in the past, so it uses the passato prossimo. However, era (it was) describes a continuous state or a characteristic of the thing you saw (it being strange). Descriptions of how things were in the past almost always use the imperfetto.
How is the word nell' formed in nell'universo?
Nell' is a combined preposition. It is made by merging the preposition in (in) with the definite article l' (the). Because universo is a noun starting with a vowel, it takes the article l', creating in + l' = nell'.

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