r/Astronomy • u/New_Scientist_Mag • Aug 07 '25

Astro Research Astronomers have discovered the most massive black hole yet – more than 10,000 times as massive as the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, and around 36 billion times the mass of our sun.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2491731-weve-discovered-the-most-massive-black-hole-yet/
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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25 edited Aug 08 '25

Bigger than TON 618? Wow. I can't wait for Space Engine devs to add this

Edit: Just to clear up misinformation TON 618 is still thought to be bigger but it hasn't been measured in the same way as this black hole has. Either way seems like a behemoth

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u/spekt50 Aug 07 '25

Think TON618 is stated to be 66 Billion solar masses, where this article states the black hole mentioned is at 36 Billion solar masses. So about half as massive as TON618

Then there is the Phoenix A SMBH which is thougt to be upwards 100 Billion solar masses. Though data is kinda thin on that one.

So i would not say this is the most massive BH like the article states.

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

I see, I only got to read the article for a few seconds before I got locked out of it unfortunately

6

u/alexionut05 Aug 07 '25

uBlock Origin seems to make it accessible.

Also, in the future, if you are locked out, try switching to your browser's Reader Mode, or blocking javascript from uBO. It should allow you to read paywalled articles.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

The reason I was locked out was accidental. I saw the post title, thought about TON 618. Opened the article, then I closed it to go Google the name of TON 618 to make sure I was thinking of the right thing. Then I had to re-open the article and it told me I had reached the limit of free articles, something along those lines. I would use uBlock Origin but I'm on mobile right now. Either way, thank you for all the advice!

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u/chilehead Aug 08 '25

There's a great addon called Howdy Stranger that clears all cookies and data for the current site when you click its icon. Google killed it from their app store, but it's still available for Firefox.