Scientists discover massive ‘young’ black hole

Scientists estimate the black hole to be 12 billion times the size of the Sun and around 900 million years old.

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.

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.”

CNN