universe is behaving in an unexpected way.
Instead of quietly swallowing the gas and dust that fall into it, the black hole is blasting gas outward at record-breaking speeds—up to 10,000 kilometers per second.
This surprising behavior means that the black hole is actually far smaller than scientists first believed.
The black hole, officially named SMSS J052915.80-435152.0 but often shortened to J0529, was first identified in 2024 by a team led by Associate Professor Christian Wolf at The Australian National University (ANU).
At the time, astronomers estimated that it had a mass more than ten billion times that of our Sun, making it an absolute monster. But new observations have turned that idea upside down.
Using advanced optical instruments at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile, researchers were able to zoom in on the quasar—the brilliant beacon of light produced by the black hole’s activity—and examine the gas swirling around it more closely.
What they found was astonishing.
Despite being the brightest object in the known universe, the black hole itself is now estimated to be “only” about one billion times the mass of the Sun.
That’s still huge, but more than ten times smaller than originally thought.
The reason for the earlier overestimate is that astronomers assumed the black hole was rapidly spinning, which would have allowed it to draw in material differently.
Instead, it turns out that the black hole’s intense light is so powerful that it pushes gas away, blowing it out into space at extraordinary speeds.
“Instead of rapidly rotating as previously presumed, this black hole is belching up the gas it’s feeding on,” Wolf explained. “The gas is being blown away by the ferocious density of light—this is the brightest object in the universe we know of.”
J0529 lies more than 12 billion light-years away, which means astronomers are seeing it as it was when the universe was still young.
Studying it not only helps scientists understand how this individual black hole behaves but also sheds light on how supermassive black holes form in the first place.
Until now, the rapid growth of black holes in the early universe was a puzzle. The new mass estimate suggests that they may have begun as collapsed stars during the universe’s first stages—a process that once seemed impossible because of the time it would take.
This breakthrough also highlights how quickly astronomy is advancing. Professor Michael Ireland from ANU is helping ESO develop even sharper interferometry technology, which will allow scientists to study black holes, stars, and planets in far greater detail.
“In the near future, our own creation story will only get more colorful,” Ireland said.
For now, J0529 stands as both the brightest and one of the strangest known black holes, forcing scientists to rethink what they thought they knew about the universe’s most extreme objects.
Source: Australian National University.
