The discovery of a supermassive black hole by researchers at Siding Spring Observatory has garnered media attention across the globe.

Australian National University (ANU) researchers first detected the black hole using the 2.3 metre telescope on top of the Warrumbungles.

The research team then turned to the largest telescope in the world to confirm the full nature of the black hole and its mass.

This telescope was European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope, in Chile.

The black hole is officially known as a ‘quasar’. Quasars are defined as the bright cores of distant galaxies, powered by supermassive black holes.

Associate Professor Christian Wolf, lead author from ANU, expressed doubt that the record is likely to ever be surpassed.

The black hole devours the equivalent of one sun every day and is the most luminous known object in the universe. Its light has travelled over 12 billion years to reach Earth.

“The incredible rate of growth also means huge releases of light and heat. It is 500 trillion times brighter than our sun,” Professor Wolf said.

“It looks like a gigantic and magnetic storm cell with temperatures of 10,000 degrees Celsius, lightning everywhere and winds blowing so fast they would go around Earth in a second.

“This storm cell is seven light years across, which is 50 per cent more than the distance from our solar system to the next star in the Galaxy – alpha Centauri.”

The intense radiation is accredited to an accretion disc around the black hole.

An accretion disk holds the matter waiting to be consumed by the black hole and, once there, very little material escapes.

The journal article, published in Nature Astronomy, found the black hole was 15 to 20 billion times the mass of the sun.

Dr Christopher Onken, co-author and astronomer at ANU, said the object was depicted in images from the ESO Schmidt Southern Sky Survey, dating back to 1980.

However, it was not recognised as a quasar, until now.

“It was hidden in plain sight – it has literally been staring us in the face,” Dr Onken said.

“It’s a surprise it remained undetected until now, given what we know about many other, less impressive black holes.”

Satellites had previously determined the object too bright to be a quasar, suggesting it to be a star instead.

Finding quasars requires precise observational data from large areas of the sky.

The data is so large, researchers use machine-learning tools to analyse the difference between quasars and other celestial objects.

The machines undergo training using existing data, typically gravitating towards data that closely resembles what has been previously encountered.

This can limit the program as it might reject a quasar, especially if it is more luminous than anything else observed, and classify it as a star.

Finding and studying supermassive black holes has the potential to shed light on some mysteries of the early universe.

This could include how black holes and their host galaxies formed and evolved.

Professor Wolf said he liked the chase of uncovering the mysterious objects.

“For a few minutes a day, I get to feel like a child again, playing treasure hunt – and now I bring everything to the table that I have learnt since,” he said.

PHOTO: An artist’s impression of the record-breaking quasar. Image courtesy ESO/M Kornmesser