Researchers in China discovered a supermassive black hole from the dawn of time that is 12 billion times the size of the sun.
The journal Nature reports the black hole, which was created within the first billion years of the universe, is larger than any previously seen black hole from that time period.
The discovery is throwing a wrench into what little knowledge researchers have about the formation and growth-rate of black holes and the universe.
An author of the study said,
How can a quasar so luminous, and a black hole so massive, form so early in the history of the universe, at an era soon after the earliest stars and galaxies have just emerged? And what is the relationship between this monster black hole and its surrounding environment, including its host galaxy?
However, astronomers are offering up some answers. Some say the earliest stars in the universe might have been a lot bigger than previously believed, and those stars eventually collapsed into the black hole formations we see today.
The discovery was made after light from the quasar -- the space junk that swirls around the supermassive black hole -- reflected onto astronomers' telescopes.
