Scientists discover black hole 12 billion times bigger than the sun

By Susannah Cullinane, CNN

Updated 9:39 AM ET, Thu February 26, 2015

An artist's impression of what a black hole might look like. Researchers in China say they have spotted a supermassive black hole 12 billion times the size of the sun.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
An artist's impression of what a black hole might look like. Researchers in China say they have spotted a supermassive black hole 12 billion times the size of the sun.
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A massive galaxy cluster known as SDSS J1038+4849 <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/10/tech/space-smiley-face/index.html">looks like a smiley face</a> in an image captured by the Hubble Telescope. The two glowing eyes are actually two distant galaxies. And what of the smile and the round face? That's a result of what astronomers call "strong gravitational lensing." That happens because the gravitational pull between the two galaxy clusters is so strong it distorts time and space around them.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
A massive galaxy cluster known as SDSS J1038+4849 looks like a smiley face in an image captured by the Hubble Telescope. The two glowing eyes are actually two distant galaxies. And what of the smile and the round face? That's a result of what astronomers call "strong gravitational lensing." That happens because the gravitational pull between the two galaxy clusters is so strong it distorts time and space around them.
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The Hubble Space Telescope also captured images of Jupiter's three great moons -- Io, Callisto and Europa -- passing by at once.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
The Hubble Space Telescope also captured images of Jupiter's three great moons -- Io, Callisto and Europa -- passing by at once.
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Using powerful optics, astronomers have found a planet-like body, J1407b, with rings 200 times the size of Saturn's. This is an artist's depiction of the rings of planet J1407b, which are eclipsing a star.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
Using powerful optics, astronomers have found a planet-like body, J1407b, with rings 200 times the size of Saturn's. This is an artist's depiction of the rings of planet J1407b, which are eclipsing a star.
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A patch of stars appears to be missing in this image from the La Silla Observatory in Chile. But the stars are actually still there behind a cloud of gas and dust called Lynds Dark Nebula 483. The cloud is about 700 light years from Earth in the constellation Serpens (The Serpent).
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
A patch of stars appears to be missing in this image from the La Silla Observatory in Chile. But the stars are actually still there behind a cloud of gas and dust called Lynds Dark Nebula 483. The cloud is about 700 light years from Earth in the constellation Serpens (The Serpent).
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This is the largest Hubble Space Telescope image ever assembled. It's a portion of the galaxy next door, Andromeda (M31).
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
This is the largest Hubble Space Telescope image ever assembled. It's a portion of the galaxy next door, Andromeda (M31).
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NASA has captured a stunning new image of the so-called "Pillars of Creation," one of the space agency's most iconic discoveries. The giant columns of cold gas, in a small region of the Eagle Nebula, were popularized by a similar image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
NASA has captured a stunning new image of the so-called "Pillars of Creation," one of the space agency's most iconic discoveries. The giant columns of cold gas, in a small region of the Eagle Nebula, were popularized by a similar image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995.
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Astronomers using the Hubble Space pieced together this picture that shows a small section of space in the southern-hemisphere constellation Fornax. Within this deep-space image are 10,000 galaxies, going back in time as far as a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
Astronomers using the Hubble Space pieced together this picture that shows a small section of space in the southern-hemisphere constellation Fornax. Within this deep-space image are 10,000 galaxies, going back in time as far as a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
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Planetary nebula Abell 33 appears ring-like in this image, taken using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The blue bubble was created when an aging star shed its outer layers and a star in the foreground happened to align with it to create a "diamond engagement ring" effect.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
Planetary nebula Abell 33 appears ring-like in this image, taken using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The blue bubble was created when an aging star shed its outer layers and a star in the foreground happened to align with it to create a "diamond engagement ring" effect.
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This long-exposure image from the Hubble Telescope is the <a href="http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2014/01/full/" target="_blank">deepest-ever picture taken of a cluster of galaxies. The cluster, </a>called Abell 2744, contains several hundred galaxies as they looked 3.5 billion years ago; the more distant galaxies appear as they did more than 12 billion years ago, not long after the Big Bang.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
This long-exposure image from the Hubble Telescope is the deepest-ever picture taken of a cluster of galaxies. The cluster, called Abell 2744, contains several hundred galaxies as they looked 3.5 billion years ago; the more distant galaxies appear as they did more than 12 billion years ago, not long after the Big Bang.
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NASA's NuSTAR telescope array generated the first map of radioactivity in the remnants of an exploding star, or supernova. Blue in this image of Cassiopeia A represents radioactive material.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
NASA's NuSTAR telescope array generated the first map of radioactivity in the remnants of an exploding star, or supernova. Blue in this image of Cassiopeia A represents radioactive material.
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A supernova was spotted on January 21 in Messier 82, one of the nearest big galaxies. This wide view image was taken on January 22.
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A supernova was spotted on January 21 in Messier 82, one of the nearest big galaxies. This wide view image was taken on January 22.
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The M82 supernova, seen here, has been designated SN2014J because it is the 10th supernova detected in 2014. At 11.4 million light years from Earth, it is the closest Type Ia supernova recorded since systematic studies with telescopes began in the 1930s.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
The M82 supernova, seen here, has been designated SN2014J because it is the 10th supernova detected in 2014. At 11.4 million light years from Earth, it is the closest Type Ia supernova recorded since systematic studies with telescopes began in the 1930s.
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Is that a giant hand waving at us? Actually, it's what's left of a star that died and exploded a long time ago. Astronomers nicknamed it the "Hand of God." <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17566" target="_blank">NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR</a>, took this image in high-energy X-rays, shown in blue. The image was combined with images from another space telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
Is that a giant hand waving at us? Actually, it's what's left of a star that died and exploded a long time ago. Astronomers nicknamed it the "Hand of God." NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, took this image in high-energy X-rays, shown in blue. The image was combined with images from another space telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
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The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, one of the largest and closest galaxies of its kind. <a href="http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1403/" target="_blank">The center of the galaxy is mysterious</a>, researchers say, because it has a double nucleus -- a supermassive black hole that may be ringed by a lopsided disc of stars, giving it the appearance of a dual core.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, one of the largest and closest galaxies of its kind. The center of the galaxy is mysterious, researchers say, because it has a double nucleus -- a supermassive black hole that may be ringed by a lopsided disc of stars, giving it the appearance of a dual core.
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Hubble scientists say this is the best-ever view of the Tarantula Nebula, which is located in one of our closest galactic neighbors, the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
Hubble scientists say this is the best-ever view of the Tarantula Nebula, which is located in one of our closest galactic neighbors, the Large Magellanic Cloud.
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Those spots on our sun appear small, but even a <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/giant-january-sunspots/" target="_blank">moderate-sized spot is about as big as Earth</a>. They occur when strong magnetic fields poke through the sun's surface and let the area cool in comparison to the surrounding area.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
Those spots on our sun appear small, but even a moderate-sized spot is about as big as Earth. They occur when strong magnetic fields poke through the sun's surface and let the area cool in comparison to the surrounding area.
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This Hubble image looks a floating marble or a maybe a giant, disembodied eye. But it's actually a nebula with a giant star at its center. Scientists think the star used to be 20 times more massive than our sun, but it's dying and is destined to go supernova.
Wonders of the universe 18 photos
This Hubble image looks a floating marble or a maybe a giant, disembodied eye. But it's actually a nebula with a giant star at its center. Scientists think the star used to be 20 times more massive than our sun, but it's dying and is destined to go supernova.
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black holeHubble galaxy smiley face01 Jupiter moons eclipse 0206giant planetary ring systemMissing starsAndromeda galaxy02 Pillars of CreationHubble color galaxiesnebula abell 33 EMBARGOED TILL 0409Faraway GalaxiesSupernova Cassiopeia Asupernova SN 2014Jsupernova SN2014Jhand of god 0110Galaxy with two heartsCosmic creeply crawlysun spotsStar Set to Explode

Story highlights

  • Researchers say the black hole is larger than any of its age previously seen
  • The black hole is six times larger than its biggest known contemporaries, they say

(CNN)Researchers in China have spotted a supermassive black hole, which they say is 12 billion times the size of the sun and formed around 900 million years after the Big Bang.

The black hole is larger than any of its age previously seen, the journal Nature reports.

A black hole is a dense region of space that has collapsed in on itself in a way that means nothing can escape it, not even light.

Releasing their findings in Nature, researchers led by teams from China's Peking University and the University of Arizona said the black hole -- named SDSS J010013.02 -- was six times larger than its biggest known contemporaries.

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"The existence of such black holes when the Universe was less than one billion years old presents substantial challenges to theories of the formation and growth of black holes and the co-evolution of black holes and galaxies," they said.

Nature reported that lead researcher Xue-Bing Wu of Peking University and his colleagues first sighted the black hole using a telescope in Yunnan, China, and used additional telescopes around the world to examine it.

    In a media release, the University of Arizona said that the black hole powered "the brightest quasar of the early universe." NASA describes quasars as "the brilliant beacons of light that are powered by black holes feasting on captured material, and in the process, heating some of the matter to millions of degrees."

    Team member Fuyun Bian, from the Australian National University, said that the light from a quasar was thought to push back material behind it and limit the growth of black holes.

    "However this black hole at the center of the quasar gained enormous mass in a short period of time," Bian said.

    Another researcher, Chris Willott, told Nature that a possible explanation could be that some black holes were formed by the collapse of a very large gas cloud -- rather than that of a single star.

    "We are still very uncertain as to the modes of black-hole formation and growth in the early Universe," he told the journal.

    Writing in Nature, astronomer Bram Venemans explains: "Theoretically, it is not implausible to find a black hole of more than 10 billion solar masses within 1 billion years after the Big Bang. But it is still surprising to uncover such a massive black hole in the early Universe."

    "This quasar is very unique," the University of Arizona quoted lead researcher Wu as saying. "Just like the brightest lighthouse in the distant universe, its glowing light will help us to probe more about the early Universe."