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Deepest X-rays tell merger story
By Jonathan Amos
BBC News science reporter, in Birmingham
An artist's impression of what the galaxy collisions might look like
Scientists have seen giant black holes growing rapidly in the cores of massive star-forming galaxies.
The observations from the Chandra space telescope are the deepest X-ray images ever obtained, viewing events that are 10 billion light-years away.
It is also clear most of these galaxies are merging with close neighbours.
David Alexander told the UK Astronomy Meeting the collisions were probably providing the material to feed the holes and drive the birth of new stars.
"We compared what you see in these galaxies with what you see in the field galaxy population, other galaxies at the same epoch and distance, and there is a stark difference - far more star formation and black hole growth," the Cambridge University scientist and Royal Society research fellow explained to the BBC News website.
Dalje
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