Looks like someone’s getting too big for their britches! In July, researchers at the Chandra X-ray Observatory discovered that everything that they thought about the formation of galaxies may be wrong. At the heart of a fairly young galaxy called CID-947 lies a black hole. Nothing odd there, right? Wrong. This particular black hole is GIGANTIC (a dozen times larger than expected) and has the mass of seven billion suns. Prior to this discovery, it was believed that supermassive black holes grew in sync with their host galaxies, accounting for only .2 to .5 percent of the mass of the whole. This particular black hole is 1/10th the mass of its galaxy, which is, in scientific terms, a bit bananas. Researchers are now incredibly excited to research other ancient black holes to see if they can better understand their interplay with the galaxies that they help to form. Illustration cred: M. Helfenbein, Yale University / OPAC #science #astronomy #nasa #blackholes by science