Article: Study: Universe full of black holes; X-ray telescope: The study shows they were much more active in the past

WASHINGTON (AP) - Supermassive black holes once dominated the universe, sucking in gas, dust and whole stars and erupting with surges of X-rays that have journeyed since for billions of years across the heavens.

That's a picture of the early universe captured by the orbiting Chandra X-ray telescope in a study that focused on small sections of the sky for days-long exposures to capture faint X-rays streaming from more than 12 billion light-years away.

"The Chandra data show us that giant black holes were much more active in the past than at present," Riccardo Giacconi, a Johns Hopkins University astronomer, said Tuesday at a news conference.

"If you look at the sky with X-ray eyes, you see ...

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