Fastest-Growing Black Hole Discovered, a 'Monster' So Big It Could Devour Our Sun in 2 Days

Astronomers say they have discovered the fastest-growing supermassive black hole known in the universe, a quasar so huge that it could devour the sun in just two days.

The black hole was detected by the SkyMapper telescope with the help of the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite and dates some 12 million years, from the early days of the 13.8 billion-year-old universe, scientists at the Australian National University's Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics said.

"This black hole is growing so rapidly that it's shining thousands of times more brightly than an entire galaxy, due to all of the gases it sucks in daily that cause lots of friction and heat," Christian Wolf of the university said in a press release.

"If we had this monster sitting at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, it would appear 10 times brighter than a full moon. It would appear as an incredibly bright pin-point star that would almost wash out all of the stars in the sky," he added.

According to NASA, a black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can't get out. It's often from a dying star. Because they don't let out light, people cannot see them. However, they can be detected using special instruments like the ones used by ANU scientists. 

(MORE: 'Ultramassive' Black Holes Detected in Distant Galaxies, Scientists Say)

In this case, the light detected from the black hole likely originates from about 12 billion years ago when it was as large as 20 billion suns. The scientists estimate the quasar has grown 1 percent every million years since then. 

Wolf noted that the astronomers don't know how the black hole grew so large and so quickly in the early days of the universe, but its discovery has enticed the scientists to search for even bigger quasars.

Wolf said the brightness of these black holes allows astronomers to "see and study the formation of elements in the early galaxies of the Universe."

"Scientists can see the shadows of objects in front of the supermassive black hole," he said. "Fast-growing supermassive black holes also help to clear the fog around them by ionizing gases, which makes the Universe more transparent."