Astronomers Discover Cosmic Giant: Black Hole 10,000 Times Heavier Than Milky Way’s Center

Kokcha News Agency – A team of astronomers has identified the largest black hole ever recorded, located approximately 5 billion light-years from Earth in one of the most massive galaxies ever observed. This colossal black hole, found in the Cosmic Horseshoe galaxy, has a mass equivalent to 36 billion Sun-like stars.

Led by Professor Thomas Collett from the University of Portsmouth in the UK, the research team used gravitational lensing to measure the black hole’s immense mass. Professor Collett stated, “This is one of the top 10 largest black holes ever discovered, and it’s likely the biggest.”

According to the Royal Astronomical Society, this cosmic giant is close to the theoretical upper limit for black hole mass in the universe and is 10,000 times heavier than the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

The Cosmic Horseshoe galaxy is so massive that it distorts space-time, bending light from a background galaxy into a giant, horseshoe-shaped Einstein ring. This phenomenon allowed the team to measure the black hole’s mass with unprecedented accuracy.

**Confirming the Discovery**:
Professor Collett explained, “Gravitational lensing helped us reach much farther into the universe.” He added, “We detected the black hole’s influence in two ways: it changes the path of light passing near it and causes stars in its host galaxy’s inner regions to move extremely fast. Combining these two measurements, we can be absolutely certain that the black hole is real.”