An ultramassive black hole around 33 billion times the mass of the Sun has been discovered by astronomers in the UK. Scientists from Durham University said the gargantuan black hole is one of the biggest ever found.
The team described its findings, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, as “extremely exciting”. Lead author Dr James Nightingale, of the Department of Physics at Durham University, said: “This particular black hole, which is roughly 30 billion times the mass of our Sun, is one of the biggest ever detected and on the upper limit of how large we believe black holes can theoretically become, so it is an extremely exciting discovery.”
Ultramassive black holes are the most massive objects in the universe, at between 10 billion and 40 billion times the mass of the Sun. Astronomers believe they can be found at the centre of all large galaxies such as the Milky Way.
