Astronomers have identified what could be the most massive supermassive black hole ever detected, with an estimated mass 36 billion times that of the sun. Located within a gravitational lens known as the “Cosmic Horseshoe,” this black hole has about 10,000 times the mass of the Milky Way’s central black hole. The discovery, made by researchers from the University of Portsmouth and the Federal University of Rio Grande, offers greater observational certainty than distant, potentially mythical holes like TON 618.
The Cosmic Horseshoe was discovered in 2007 using the Hubble telescope, with the galaxy LRG 3-757 sitting at its center. The surrounding blue horseshoe shape is distorted light emitted from another galaxy beyond it. By analyzing the motion of light in the ring and the velocity of stars in the inner regions of the galaxy, astronomers have calculated that a supermassive black hole likely lies at the center.
Professor Thomas Collett from the University of Portsmouth suggests that such a massive black hole could only form from the merger of two supermassive black holes resulting from galaxy collisions. This raises questions about the fate of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and neighboring Andromeda.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/this-is-probably-the-most-massive-black-hole-in-history-gravitational-lens