Discovery

Astronomers have discovered what could be the largest ever black hole, residing hundreds of millions of light years from us.

Black hole

Black holes are regions in space where the gravitational force is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape.

Gigantic black hole

The newly discovered black hole is 30 billion times the mass of the Sun and is termed ultramassive, a scale that is rarely observed.

Gravitational lensing discovery

For the first time, a black hole has been discovered using gravitational lensing. This technique has previously been used to find exoplanets and galaxy clusters.

Inactive black hole

The newly discovered ultramassive black hole is not very active, which is surprising since most big black holes we know about are in an active state.