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Most Distant (and Oldest) Supermassive Black Hole Discovered

posted by martyb on Thursday December 07 2017, @04:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the how'd-it-get-that-big? dept.

takyon writes:

Farthest monster black hole found

Astronomers have discovered the most distant "supermassive" black hole known to science.

The matter-munching sinkhole is a whopping 13 billion light-years away, so far that we see it as it was a mere 690 million years after the Big Bang. But at about 800 million times the mass of our Sun, it managed to grow to a surprisingly large size such a short time after the origin of the Universe. The find is described in the journal Nature [DOI: 10.1038/nature25180] [DX].

This relic from the early Universe is busily devouring material at the centre of a galaxy - marking it out as a so-called quasar.

Also at Sky & Telescope.

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Nerdfest on Thursday December 07 2017, @04:42PM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Thursday December 07 2017, @04:42PM (#606858)

    Sure, it's far away at the moment, but you know you're going to see your mom at Christmas. Sounds like she put on some weight since last year too.

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