Biggest Black Hole Ever

According to reports released on November 29, 2012 astronomers have claimed that they have found the most massive black hole ever known. It was discovered in a small galaxy about 250 km light years form Earth. It has a mass equivalent to 17 billion Suns.

The super massive black hole is located inside the galaxy NGC 1277 in the constellation Perseus. The black hole makes up about 14 percent of its host galaxy's total mass. It is an apt pointer to its prodigious size, because a normal black hole would make up only as much as 0.1 percent of the mass of its host.

In the same study, several other black holes were also found. Together with the most massive one, these black holes could lead to a fundamental rethinking of theories about how galaxies and black holes formed and evolved. The NGC 1277 is only 10 percent of the size and mass of our Milky Way. Despite its comparatively diminutive size, the black hole at its heart is 11 times as wide as the orbit of Neptune around the Sun.