An artist’s conception of the most distant supermassive black hole ever discovered, which is part of a quasar from just 690 million years after the Big Bang. Way out at the very edge of the observable universe, there loomed a black hole 800 million times more massive than the sun. when they were 2 ½.”According to NASA, when a star gets too close to a black hole, intense tidal forces rip the star apart. Scientists don't yet know the underlying reasons for such rapid growth, or whether still older black holes are waiting to be found. The quasar “is basically a gold mine for follow-up studies of this 2 ½-year-old universe.”Read more:Gravitational wave from black hole collision 1.8 billion light-years away sensed in U.S. and ItalyThis black hole is being pushed around its galaxy by gravitational wavesWhat does a black hole look like?

Source: Washington Post December 07, 2017 15:44 UTC