The massive black hole has been dubbed GW231123. Its unusual size and behavior is challenging scientists' understanding of black hole formation, Hannam said. Previously, the largest known black hole that came from a merger was about 140 times the mass of the sun.

Gravitational-wave detectors have captured their biggest spectacle yet: two gargantuan, rapidly spinning black holes likely forged by earlier smash-ups fused into a 225-solar-mass titan, GW231123. The record-setting blast strains both the sensitivity of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA and the boundaries of stellar-evolution theory,

New gravitational wave findings from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration report the discovery of the largest black hole merger ever. It could lead to evidence of an extremely rare type of black hole.