The “sleeping giant” black hole is located approximately 300 million light-years away in the Coma Cluster. The black hole sits at the heart of the galaxy NGC 4889, which is the biggest and brightest object in the NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) picture. According to ESA, the black hole defied all expectations when it was discovered. The supermassive black hole measures an astounding 80 million miles (130 million km) across or 15 times the size of Neptune’s orbit.
Compared to the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A*, that black hole is only four million times heavier than the Sun.
ESA, which operates Hubble with NASA, said: “By the time when NGC 4889’s black hole was swallowing stars and devouring dust is past.
“Astronomers believe that the gigantic black hole has stopped feeding and is currently resting after feasting on NGC 4889’s cosmic cuisine.
“The environment within the galaxy is now so peaceful that the stars are forming from its remaining gas and orbiting undisturbed around the black hole.”
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When the black hole was still active, ESA said the monstrous well of gravity surrounded itself with vast amounts of stellar material.
The process, known as hot accretion, sees dust and cosmic gas fall towards the black hole into a spinning disc.
The accretion disc is accelerated to near the speed of light and millions of degrees of heat.
Some of the material will fall towards the black hole’s event horizon after which it cannot escape and some of it will shoot out into space in the form of a relativistic jet.
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ESA said: “ During its active period, astronomers would have classified NGC 4899 as a quasar and the disc around the supermassive black hole would have emitted up to a thousand times the energy output of the Milky Way.
“The accretion disc sustained the supermassive black hole’s appetite until the nearby supply of galactic material was exhausted.
“Now, napping quietly as it waits for its next celestial snack, the supermassive black hole is dormant.”
Supermassive black holes represent one of the two main classes of black holes recognised by astronomers: supermassive black holes and stellar black holes.
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There are, however, other hypothesised types of black holes such as primordial black holes and intermediary black holes.
ESA said: “Although it is impossible to directly observe a black hole – as light cannot escape its gravitational pull – its mass can be indirectly determined.
“Using instruments on the Keck II Observatory and Gemini North Telescope, astronomers measured the velocity of the stars around NGC 4889’s centre.
“These velocities – which depend on the mass of the object they orbit – revealed the immense mass of the supermassive black hole.”