An illustration of a supermassive black hole.NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Facebook A new study found that time appeared to move five times slower in the early days of the universe. Scientists used quasars — enormously bright supermassive black holes — to arrive at their findings. The study offers direct observations that support Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. Scientists recently discovered that time appeared to move five times slower in the early days of the universe, CNN reported.The universe is about 13.7 billion years old.