Credit: NASA/JHU/AUI/R.Giacconi et al.
Black Holes in the Deep Field
An extraordinary 10-day observation with the world's most powerful X-ray
telescope has shown that the universe is filled with million solar mass
blackholes, and that black holes (like people) are more active when young.
The picture above is the "Chandra Deep Field (South)", a 1 million second
deep pointing at a single spot in the sky. The image above shows some of
the faintest X-ray sources ever detected - the faintest sources emitted
only 1 detectable X-ray per day! In the words of Dr. Riccardo Giacconi, the principle
investigator of this observation, "The Chandra data show us that giant
black holes were much more active in the past than at present. In this
million-second image, we also detect relatively faint X-ray emission from
galaxies, groups, and clusters of galaxies". This image helps astronomers
determine how black holes in the early universe swallow matter and add
energy into their surroundings, and provides clues as to how galaxies
formed.
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Page Author: Dr. Michael F.
Corcoran
Last modified March 24, 2001
