Astronomers have discovered what could be the biggest known black hole in the universe. The gargantuan black hole, around 36 billion times more massive than our sun, is close to the theoretical upper limit of what is possible in the universe, according to a new study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

A galaxy billions of light years from Earth houses what may be the most massive black hole in the universe, equivalent to cramming the full mass of a small galaxy into a single object

Scientists have tapped into gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics to confirm the existence of a black hole with 36 billion solar masses.