Astronomers have discovered potentially the most massive black hole ever detected. The cosmic behemoth is close to the theoretical upper limit of what is possible in the universe and is 10,000 times heavier than the black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy.

The new black hole is 10,000 times heavier than the black hole at centre of our Milky Way galaxy.

It sits in the heart of a galaxy so massive it bends light into the shape of a giant horseshoe. And within that galaxy lurks an even greater monster: a black hole 36 billion times the mass of our Sun.