<p>The M87 black hole is the largest such phenomenon identified so far. Previous estimates had it as only three billion times the weight of the sun.<br /><br />Scientists used a specially adapted telescope in Hawaii to observe it and discovered that it was more than twice as heavy as had been previously thought, catapulting it into the record books.<br /><br />It was observed in M87, by far the largest and most distant galaxy in the nearby universe, some 50 million light years away, the Daily Mail reported.<br /><br />The researchers said it may have formed as a result of hundreds of smaller black holes merging into one at some point in the past, according to a University of Texas statement.<br /><br />As a point of comparison, the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way is 1,000 times smaller.<br /><br />Astronomer Karl Gebhardt of the University of Texas in Austin, US said: "It (M87) could swallow our solar system whole."<br /></p>
<p>The M87 black hole is the largest such phenomenon identified so far. Previous estimates had it as only three billion times the weight of the sun.<br /><br />Scientists used a specially adapted telescope in Hawaii to observe it and discovered that it was more than twice as heavy as had been previously thought, catapulting it into the record books.<br /><br />It was observed in M87, by far the largest and most distant galaxy in the nearby universe, some 50 million light years away, the Daily Mail reported.<br /><br />The researchers said it may have formed as a result of hundreds of smaller black holes merging into one at some point in the past, according to a University of Texas statement.<br /><br />As a point of comparison, the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way is 1,000 times smaller.<br /><br />Astronomer Karl Gebhardt of the University of Texas in Austin, US said: "It (M87) could swallow our solar system whole."<br /></p>