Into darkness: Scientists baffled by supermassive black hole

Scientists say they have discovered a black hole so big that it challenges the theory about how they grow. The black hole was formed about 900 million years after the Big Bang, with measurements indicating it is 12 billion times the size of the sun. Physicists cannot explain how the black hole grew so quickly. Theoretically, it could not have fed off the surrounding gas as fast and as long as it would have needed to reach its massive size.

This is the largest black hole found for that period of time.

Fuyan Bian, Australian National University

Scientist say one option is that two massive black holes in the early universe collided, forming an even larger black hole. The creation of supermassive black holes remains an open topic of research. Black holes grow, scientific theory suggests, as they absorb mass. However, as mass is absorbed, it is heated, creating radiation pressure that pushes the mass away from the black hole.

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