A black hole 12 billion times more massive than the sun has been found in a glowing quasar that existed when the universe was just a fraction of its current age, scientists said on Wednesday.
The discovery challenges currently held theories that black holes and their host galaxies grew in relative lock step over the eons.
Black holes are so massive that not even light can travel fast enough to escape their gravitational pits. Black holes are detected by effects they have on surrounding galaxies, stars and dust. Quasars, the most luminous objects in the universe, are distant galaxies with powerful jets of radiation and matter shooting out from discs of dust and gas spiraling into a central black hole.