Astronomers have discovered potentially the most massive black hole ever detected. The cosmic behemoth is close to the theoretical upper limit of what is possible in the universe and is 10,000 times heavier than the black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy.

The new black hole is 10,000 times heavier than the black hole at centre of our Milky Way galaxy.

Astronomers have just uncovered what may be the most massive black hole ever detected in the universe—an astonishing 36 billion times the mass of our Sun. This cosmic giant sits at the heart of a distant galaxy known as the Cosmic Horseshoe, located about 5 billion light-years from Earth.