Surprisingly large quasar dates from very early universe

Los Angeles Times : An object spotted by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey appears to be a black hole 12 billion solar masses in size. Its redshift suggests it formed when the universe was only 875 million years old. Of the known black holes formed in the universe’s first billion years, it is by far the most massive and luminous. This black hole is also a quasar and is pulling in so much of the surrounding material that massive amounts of radiative energy are being released. And that’s what makes it unusual. Normally, the pressure from that radiation is expected to gradually slow the rate at which material falls into a black hole . The finding that the black hole reached such a great size in such a short period of time challenges current understanding. Further observations of this black hole could provide more clues into black hole formation and evolution. As the light it emits passes through the material in the intergalactic medium, which was much denser 13 billion years ago, that light could also provide information about the growth of the universe itself.