Black holes · Ultramassive black hole

TON 618

10.4 billion light-years · Light crosses it in 15 days

Across

389.8 billion km

Vs Earth

2,606 AU across

Mass

66.0 billion Suns

Open TON 618 in Cosmic Scale

About

TON 618 is an ultramassive black hole powering a quasar so bright that we can see it from over ten billion light-years away. It was catalogued as a faint blue star in 1957 before anyone understood what quasars were.

One of the most massive black holes known — its horizon could swallow our Solar System many times over.

At a glance

Mass	66 billion Suns
Distance	10.4 billion light-years
Horizon	About 2,600 AU across
Luminosity	140 trillion Suns

Did you know

1. Light takes about 15 days just to cross its event horizon.
2. The quasar outshines its entire host galaxy by a factor of thousands.
3. We see it as it was when the universe was about a quarter of its present age.

Simulations

• Quasar — A black hole feeding so fast it outshines its whole galaxy